Dont Fear the Reaper
by everfaithful
Summary: John enrolls the boys in military school to investigate haunting driven suicides. Sam 13, Dean 17.
1. Chapter 1

Sam folded his arms and sank even deeper into the back seat, which wound up putting his knees square into his brother's back through the seat. He so didn't want to hear this. It was bad enough that he had been made to leave the one place he had been able to sort of fit in, but now they were going to military school? "You know just because I like school doesn't mean I really want to live there. This is a really bad idea."

"It's a good idea. And it's a job." John said from behind the wheel. Dean punched the back of his seat hard to get his brother's knees out from his back.

"Dude, I'm with Sam. Military school? All boys' school? I wasn't that bad this year." He grumbled.

John chuckled softly. "I spent my highschool years at this school. There is a girls' school that there will be dances and other events with. Where do you think I met your mother?" He then sobered. "Besides. It'sa job. We deal with the job, and we move on."

Sam grumbled and glared at the rearview mirror. "So set us up somewhere and you come back to do the job. Not like there is any reason for us to go with you. "

John met Sam's eyes in the rearview mirror. "I've decided." He said. "It'll be good for the two of you anyway."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"More like good for you, it's a boarding school. You can take off whenever you want and not have to think twice about it." Sam said, but he put his feet up on the back seat and looked away from his father, pretending to go back to reading his book.

"I'm hardly taking off if I'm going to be a teacher there." John said after a long, slow exhale.

Dean scowled at Sam's tone. Not that he hadn't ever thought the same, but he just hadn't said it aloud. That was the difference. And the moment needed to be lightened as he turned around in the seat and snatched Sam's book out of his hands. "So there'sa girls' school near by? Anything fun to do in town?"

"The usual sort of thing I would imagine. It's been a few years since I graduated high school. You could do worse than to graduate from here, Dean. You two are already ahead of the game. You both know how to shoot, how to orienteer, you are going to excel here. " He didn't want to say how close the girls school was.

Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed his book back from Dean. Yeah. He was going to excel at a military school. Dean would excel, Sam would wind up being the geekish freak kid of a teacher that no one would include in anything they were doing for fear that he would tell. Sam knew exactly how things were going to go. "It's just a job. We'll move on way sooner than the end of the school year. "

"Sounds like am awful time." Dean said with a grimace as he grabbed the book again. This wasn't exactly the highlight of his year either, changing schools to go to a military school.

"Damn it, Dean, stop it!" Sam yelled at his brother and reached over the seat to grab at the book.

"Watch your language." John said sternly. He didn't like it when the boys swore at each other. There had been a change in the boys' attitudes toward each other. He supposed it was just them settling into a normal brotherly attitude toward each other.

"What ever." Sam said as he simply stared at the back of the seat. Letting Dean keep the book. "Not like he'd bother to read it anyway."

"For your information, smarty pants, I read this book in ninth grade, same as you." Dean snapped, winging the book back at Sam hard. "I'm perfectly edjumacated thank you very much."

"Ow!" Sam yelled. "Knock it off. " He glared at his brother, then looked at his father expectantly, and of course there was nothing. Not telling Dean to settle down, not telling him to leave the book alone. Figured. It just figured.

"Sam, that's enough." John said. "Just because you are mad about this move doesn't give you the right to take it out on your brother. "

"I'm not mad at Dean about the move... I'm mad at him about taking my book."

"Dude, the book sucks." Dean said. "And the move will be fine. You'll probably love the school for what it's worth." Trying to smooth over Sam's feathers, feathers he had ruffled in the first place.

"It's the only thing I have that I haven't read 4 times this summer already." Sam said as he shifted uncomfortably in the back seat. "And you know I won't love the school. I can't imagine that there is anything about it I am going to like. Have you thought about the fact that we will be in uniforms... none of which will be long enough for me... they will shave our heads... which will make me look like that freak on the cover of Mad magazine... I'm 13 and a freshman... so I am going to be the kid that everyone targets... I'm going to hate it. "

"And I'll beat the shit out of anyone that targets you." Dean said.

"Dean..." John warned. Though Dean wasn't sure what the warning was about. Threats of violence or the fact that he swore.

"And all the kids will have buzz cuts. I doubt any of them look normal." Dean finished.

"Dean... that isn't the point. " Sam sighed. Dean didn't get it. Dean was the kid that everyone liked. The one that people went out of their way to get to know. Sam was the one that people always seems to find something wrong with. "We're going to be teacher's kids on top of everything else. " He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Never matters. Just... drop it." Even after that talk on the way out of town Dean didn't get it. How could he? He was the good son, the perfect son. Sam was the freak. Even in his own family.

"That's enough!" John snapped. "Last I checked I'm still your father. Of both of you. Therefore my decisions go, since you're both minors." He shot a look at Dean, silently telling him to shut up. After all, in January Dean would be eighteen. "This isn't going to be as bad as you think it is, and it won't go as well as I hope. So we all have to accept that, okay? This school has a top notch education, along with a haunting problem."

Sam didn't say anything more. He knew there was no point. Every one knew he was unhappy about it. They had known he was unhappy about leaving the last town they were in. Dean had gone so far as to invade his journal to figure out why. Then pretty much told him his feelings were crap. They had spent the rest of the day hanging out, pretty much were okay as they finished the packing, then things were back to normal. So much for getting along.

He almost visibly cringed as they pulled into the gates of the school. He figured it was too late to ask to go to Jim's instead. His father had put his foot down and that was all there was to that. He was the last to get out of the car, still holding his book (which did not suck), figuring it might be the last familiar thing in his world until his father decided to let them out.

Dean looked at the school with dismay. Especially after seeing a platoon of cadets march by. "Dad!" Dean said. "They're all geeks! Bad geeks too. You can't do this to us." He was able to keep up the strong front until finally faced with his destiny. And it sucked.

John raised an eyebrow as he got their bags out of the trunk. "You'll live." He said. "Signed you boys up for activities too. Sammy, you've got science club. Dean, welcome to the world of drama."

If Dean could have died on the spot to escape his fate, he would have.

Sam would have felt sorry for Dean, except he figured Dean would fit right in with the drama people. And they would like him. Science club. Well... at least he would hopefully find someone to have an intelligent conversation with. "Maybe they'll make you dress up like a girl." He said to his brother, still holding a grudge about the whole book situation. "Someone has to, right? Not like there are any real girls around here."

"Shut up." Dean said, already pouting and grumbling about it. Which just made John chuckle.

"Nope, nothing melodramatic about you, son." He said. "Come on, let's get you guys registered."

Sam gave Dean a triumphant look then followed after thier father. "Science club huh... it's not lame, is it?" He asked feigning a hopeful tone. "Science club at the last school was completely lame. A bunch of kids all making models of the solar system for the science fair."

"I'm sure it's not lame." John said. "This is a top notch school. The waiting list to get in here is miles long. You two get to jump ahead, lucky boys."

"Yeah, real lucky." Dean said, still bothered by the whole drama club thing. Then he smirked at Sam. "So we get registered, then we get a hair cut, right, Dad?"

"There has got to be some way to get out of this hair cut thing." Sam said balking once more. "Do you have any idea what people are going to do to me when we go on to the next school?" He said just loud enough for his father to hear.

"Do you have any idea how badly you'd stick out if I got around the hair cut thing?" John shot back. "Deal with it. Wear a baseball cap next year."

"Then he'd look like one of those cancer kids on the St Jude telethon." Dean pointed out.

"Jerk... like you're gonna look any better. Just think... no more girls twittering around running their fingers in all that blonde hair." Sam rolled his eyes, trying and failing not to glare at his brother.

"Bitch." Dean hissed back, so their father wouldn't hear. Language, after all. Had to watch it. "I'm sure I can distract them away from my hair." He said, sighing. "Okay, so we have to march in formation. Get hair cuts. Wear uniforms. Are there any perks to being a teacher's kid?"

"I've arranged for you to still be able to share a room.. that is unless you want to room with students your own age and get a break from one another?"

Sam looked at his brother, almost afraid of what Dean would say. Dean who had been wanting his space away from Sam. Who had been embarassed to be seen in public with him. Maybe this would be his chance to escape Sam for good. Dean could leave when he graduated if they stayed through the year. What if John decided that Sam wasn't suited to hunting and left him enrolled in the school when this was all done and they both left him there?

"Well, that's a perk." Dean said. "Fine with me." Worked for him in two ways. He could keep an eye on his little brother, and have a safe place of his own.

Sam relaxed visibly. At least he wouldnt be on his own right away. He couldn't help it. He didn't have much faith that he would be leaving this school. It was the one sort of school that he couldn't imagine liking, so it would stand to reason it was the one school he would have to stay at. "Yeah... it's fine with me too."

"Good." John said, relieved that at least they wouldn't be fighting over one thing. He'd take what he could get. "So we'll register you two. Luckily, Dean, your grades are good enough to qualify you as a senior." Sam, he never worried about. It was Dean who had to be kept on to keep his grades up.

Sam went through the process with absolute dred. He didn't like the idea of uniforms and hair cuts but there it was, and two hours later he was scheduled for all his classes and standing in front of the bathroom mirror looking at the big eared hairless freak staring back at him. "Once we leave here I am never cutting my hair short again."

"Dude, it's just hair." Dean said as he scowled as his own reflection. Okay, the hair cut was awful...short. "It'll grow back before you know it. At least I hope so. Me? I'm never wearing green again." The uniforms were all various shades of green. Including the gym clothes.

"At least you don't look like a freak. Just a guy with a bad hair cut. I have dumbo ears." It wasn't so much vanity on Sam's part as it was the sure and certain knowledge that he would be harassed about it to no end until the hair grew back. By the other kids... and by Dean.

"It's just hair." Dean responded as he turned his attention to his own. He had a cowlick that tended to spring up when his hair was too short. Like now. He'd have to figure something out.

Sam snorted and walked into the bedroom and landed on his bed with a humph. "You wouldn't understand." He grumbled and reached for his book hoping to lose himself in another world for a little while.

Dean climbed up and flopped on the top bunk. "What's to understand?" Dean asked. "These hair cuts suck. And I bet you're not the only big eared goof in this place."

"Probably not, but I am the only big eared goof that also happens to be the new kid, and the new teacher's kid."

"Yeah, but you're also my little brother." Dean said from his bunk. "Seriously, let's just do this job, we might not last the semester here. It's really not worth getting stressed about, when we both know it might be temporary."

"I hope you're right." Sam said quietly. Although it was that might that worried him the most. Might be Temporary. It might not, and that worried him.

"Of course I am." Dean said confidently. "Because this is Dad. He'll go through the motions, pretend he's just like he was when he was in the Marines, then he'll realize he's not, the job will be finished, something else will come up and we'll be off. Situation normal."

"Yeah." Sam said as he reached over and turned out the light. "I guess so. Night, Dean... and thanks."

"No problem." Dean said as he made himself comfortable.

It seemed he'd just fallen asleep when the door was thrown open, someone banging an aluminum trash can and shouting. He nearly fell out of the bunk. "Okay, this does suck." He grumbled into his pillow.

"Situation normal, huh?" Sam grumbled as he rolled out of bed and tossed his pillow at the idiot with the trash can, making his way toward the bathroom. He grumbled about 5 more minutes before the alarm was going to go off.

"Shut up." Dean said, sliding off the side of the bed to get down to the floor. He stumbled his way through the bathroom routine, he was not a morning person. And not even with his teeth brushed yet, nearly got into a fight in the bathroom. Even for Dean, that was a record.

Sam officially hated it here, but he made it down stairs to breakfast, managing to ignore most of the attempts at hazing the new kid. It wasn't that they were intentionally being cruel, it just came across that way to his 13 year old mind. Fortunately he was used to being the new kid, and figured he could hack it for the time they would actually be there. Could hack it, but didn't intend on bothering to pretend he liked it.

Dean nearly slammed his breakfast tray down on the table as he sat across from Sam, glaring at anyone who looked their way with any sort of expression. "We should lobby to go to Pastor Jim's." He announced.

"Yeah, like Dad is going to agree to that. " Sam said. "If I wanted to be here, you might stand a chance." He actually laughed a little as he said that one. He knew his father wasn't intentionally making choices contrary to what he wanted. He wasn't trying to... he just accidentally succeded more often than Sam liked. "Besides, did you see the look on his face? He is so proud that we are enrolled here. "

"Yeah, like we got in here for real or something." Dean said with a scowl. "Anyway, heard the kids talking in the line. Three years, three suicides of kids not suicidal. One in the gym, one in the theater. And one in the science lab. So, any wonders why Dad is the new gym teacher?" John had strategically positioned himself and his sons at the three hotspots.

"Figures. Would have been nice to get the heads up from him for a change. " Sam hated that his father never told them anything. For their own safety. That was what he would say. It wasn't for their safety this time. "Would have been nice to be told I was on my first hunt not set out as bait."

"Hey, I'm just glad that's the reason I have to join the frigging drama club. At least this way I might manage to have a little fun. MaybeI can paint scenery or something." Dean said as he stabbed what passed for sausage with his fork.

Sam shook his head. Leave it to Dean to find a way to make it work out in his head that way. Didn't seem to bother him when their father pulled things like this. He figured Dean would believe in god, but John Winchester stood too tall and broad in his brother's eyes to allow him to see any more superior being. "I still say they will put you in a dress."

"Doubtful. It's a military school after all." Dean said. "Besides, I'd get in a fight, then I'd get expelled, and the job would be over. I bet Dad warned his friend about that one."

"Dad didn't bother to warn us about being put in classes where the ghost strikes. Didn't bother to warn us about anything, so what makes you think for one moment he's gonna warn anyone about anything that would make our stay here less than pristine."

"Because our stay is his stay?" Dean suggested. His brother was downright brilliant for a thirteen year old. But at the same time he needed everything spelled out for him. Like Dean being signed up for drama club was status quo? There was a method to his father's reasoning. Always had been. Sam...Sam just liked everything spelled out, and John wasn't really a speller.

"Whatever, Dean. You are such a follower, you know that?" He said as he gave up on trying to eat his breakfast. "Our stay is his stay." He grumbled. " Sure... I'll be bait for you, Dad. Sign me up for a class where otherwise healthy kids are driven to suicide." He mocked. "Like he would notice if either of us started acting weird." He got up and picked up his tray.

Dean followed, eating as fast as he could. "You're always bitching he treats you like a kid. Well guess what, now he's treating you like an adult and you're still bitching. It's a job, Sam. This is what we do. And I'll notice if you start acting weird."

"Adults are told what they are getting into." Sam countered. "And of course you will notice. Just don't expect anything to be written in my journal about it." He added. He had learned his lesson about that. "And we need to get into the records later and see who has died. Check out if the thing has a type." He had been researching teen suicide and hauntings but his brother had thought he was being suicidal about it. So Sam had stopped.

"Would make it easier if you did write it down." Dean said with a grin. "okay, so after lights out we'll get into the office and see what we can find." Sam did have a minor point. Dad might be doing all this himself, but he wasn't sharing. And this was things that they needed to know.

"Yeah, right. Learned my lesson on that one." Sam said as he dropped off the dishes and tray. "So what's your first class of the day?" He asked.

"Math." Dean said. "Followed by English. At least Dad knew better than to sign me up for the advanced classes." He looked at Sam's schedule. "He left that to you I see. Lucky you, you'll enjoy it."

"Hope so." He had gotten his hopes up about AP classes in the past but the other students didn't take the class seriously. Well... most of them didn't and it made it just like any other class, but with more homework. "You're smart enough for the advanced classes, Dean. You're every bit as smart as I am."

Dean shrugged. "No attention span." He said. He wasn't going to debate whether he was as smart as Sam or not. But it was a fact he didn't have the necessary attention span for the advanced classes, because there was so much he'd rather be doing.

"Only because it isn't a girl or a car. You could do it... just gotta want to is all." Sam said. "I'll see you at lunch." He said as he headed down the hall toward his fist class of the day.

Dean stopped at his locker and sauntered into class, two minutes after the bell. Intentionally. He was the new kid, might as well make an entrance. Sam might want to fade into the background, Dean found it easier to hide in plain sight.

The instructor looked up as he walked in, as did the other students. "You must be Cadet Winchester. " He said. "I will assume you got lost on your way here from the breakfast hall since you got in too late for the proper tour, there will be no excuse for it tomorrow."

"Oh absolutely." Dean said brightly, in a not so convincing way. Whatever punishment they could come up with, he was used to. John Winchester was his father after all. Calisthenics, weapons, cleaning...it was par for the course.

"Take your seat." He said and indicated the open seat.The cadet to his left gave Dean an appraising once over. He was obviously the leader of some pack or another. There was usually one in every school, sometimes more in the bigger schools.

Dean smirked at the kid as he took his seat, looping his back pack around the back of his chair and loosening the stupid tie while he was at it as he slouched casually down in the seat. He'd done the canine equilvalent of raising his leg and threatening to piss on territory and he knew it. That was the point. To see who came out of the woodwork as an ally or a threat. This was high school after all. And no matter what adults thought, it really was that rough and really that much like a war zone.

Cadet Lt Col Bradly Halloran raised an eyebrow at the new kid, then cracked a smile before going back to his books. Kid had potential. Potential to be an asset, or one hell of a pain in the ass. He'd have to keep a close eye on him.

Sam's problem was that he hadn't yet figured out how to wade through the bullshit that coated each social circle, Dean figured. Or Dean was just insanely gifted in that area. But Dean opened up his notebook and took the minimum amount of notes needed to pass the class.

"What's your next class, Pleb?" Halloran asked as they filed out. "Can't have you being late twice in one day. "

"That would be a shame." Dean said with a laugh as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. "And call me Dean, I'm testing out of that Pleb shit this weekend."

"Testing out huh? Alright Dean," he said with a chuckle, "normally everyone goes by their rank around here until after hours. Some of the horse's asses still do after wards. I'm Brad... or Lt Colonel Halloran, thanks to 5 years in this place. Come on. I know where you're headed next." He said, looking at Dean's schedule. "My next class is two doors down from there."

"Well, I'm not everyone. My dad gets off on this military stuff. I'm just along for the ride, like every other teenager in the world I guess." Dean said with a chuckle as they walked toward their next classes. "So what do people do for fun around here? And I swear if you say PT, I'm so out of here before the bell rings."

"There are things to do... organized activities." He rolled his eyes at that one. "Fun though... well... we'll see." Brad told him. he wanted to get to know the kid first. "After all, teacher's kids have a reputation for narcing on the rest of the students."

"Or they have the reputation for being the biggest troublemakers." Dean pointed out. "A lot like preachers' daughters, they can go either way." He didn't say outright, but his tone implied he knew a preacher's daughter or two.

"So I've heard." Brad said with a laugh. "We're in the same barracks. Your father is the new DI. You should get him to let you out of baby sitting duty and move in to a room with Seniors. You will definitely have more fun that way."

"Oh I don't doubt it." Dean said. "But I've learned...after years with my father...that if I toe the line here and there, he doesn't notice when I cross it other times."

"What about the little brother? Doesn't he rat you out? Mine sure does. Every chance he gets." Brad said rolling his eyes, although there was a look of concern there for a moment that he seemed to will away. "But hey, here we go." He said indicating the door to Dean's next class. "See ya later."

"Sam? No way." Dean said with confidence. "See you." He said. Well, that was a good sign.

Sam found the he had actually liked his first class. People were quiet, paid attention and had better things to do than whisper about him or toss things when the teacher wasn't looking. Although that could have something to do with the fact that the teacher looked like he could go three rounds with his dad, and come out the other side. He headed for his next class and hoped that it worked out the same way.

The next class was hardly like the other one. A big freshman shoved Sam as he walked by. Sam was the new kid after all. He had to know his place, which as far as the other freshman was concerned, was on the floor.

Sam hit the floor, but so did the other freshman as Sam managed to accidentally (on purpose) trip the guy as he got to his feet. "Sorry about that, you okay?" He asked. He had learned that sometimes, going with it and taking advantage of the situation was much more satisfying.

The freshman looked at him in surprise. He knew that hadn't been accidental. But he was bigger than even some of the seniors and wasn't used to someone taking him on even if they were subtle about it. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said. "You're new. I'm Rob Clancy." He said as he picked himself up. "Gotta watch your feet. Could get you in trouble."

"Sam Winchester." He said as he rose to his feet as well. "I deal okay with trouble when I have to... rather not have to but... well you know how it is." He said meeting the other boy's gaze. "So what's this teacher like?" He asked.

"He's a dick. Thinks we're all here to learn or something." It was a required class. Typing. Also the most hated class, owed in no small part to the instructor.

"Funny how teachers have that idea." Sam said as he entered the class. Stranger still the students that thought otherwise. There were classes that Sam hated in school, just like other boys. He was at least that normal. And he could well imagine where typing could be one of them. It sounded like the height of boredom.

"Everyone take your seats." The teacher said. "Say hello to our new student, Cadet Winchester. And let's open our books to page 49 for our exercise."

"See what I mean? Dick."

Sam shrugged. "Wait till you meet the new gym teacher." Sam said with a faint grin. He settled into his seat and opened the book to the appropriate page. Still on the first row. This was going to be the longest hour he had ever experienced.

"Yeah, hope he doesn't go out like the last one. Hung himself from the basketball hoop." Rob said. "Worse, on the last day of school. Janitor didn't find him for a week."

Sam looked at him a moment. "Don't think that will happen again... but...any idea why he would do that? I mean... is it that bad being a gym teacher?"

"I don't know. All the last guy did was make us run laps and shoot baskets. Didn't seem that hard and heart breaking to me." Rob said with a shrug as he worked on his exercise. He was a good typer, despite large thick fingers. "THen we turned in our gym uniforms, we all went home, there's a two week break between the school year and the summer session, then next thing we knew, the gym was getting some major revamping cause of all the decomposing gym teacher."

Sam wasn't as good as Rob but he knew better than to not plug away at it while talking. "I've heard there were other deaths here... suicides... is that true?"

"Already getting the low down, Winchester?" Rob asked. "Yeah. They did Hamlet last year. After closing night, leading man was found impaled on a sword. Not a prop one either. Freaked out the drama geeks, their Hamlet had some weird Japanese thing, and the guy offed himself basically through seppuku, ritual Japanese suicide. Guy in the chemistry club drank a beakerful of acid. Definitely closed casket there, burned through his throat I heard. Anyway, that's when they just consolidated all the science clubs into one science club. They have those stupid counselors still tailing everyone, to make sure we're not going to try to one up the rest of them."

"That's seriously messed up." Sam said covering a little of his curiosity. "Leave it to my dad to sign me up at suicide high." He said. "So ... that's it though... right? Cause... dang."

"You'd have to ask around for the rest of the story." Rob said. "Listen to everyone else, this place is haunted. But that's stupid, right?" He said with a laugh as he printed out his assignment and went onto the next

one. "Some of the teachers here, they used to be students. Heard from the headmaster that the new gym teacher, you call him Dad, used to be a student too. So he knew what he was getting into. Absolutely nothing. Because it's just something that happens."

"Haunted, huh?" Sam said as he slowly caught up and printed the assignment. "What .. rattling chains and things moving about kinda stuff ? Or is someone hearing the boiler knocking at night and freaking out?"

"More like whenever they make the graduating seniors take the incoming seventh graders on a bivouac, they tell stupid stories about this place being haunted." Rob said. "I heard the whole spiel when I was coming into seventh grade. At the time, they were scary. Now, they're just stupid."

"Which means some jerk is gonna try and scare me with them later." He said with sigh. "Maybe I should have someone tell me before hand so that I can make up something more interesting about my last school." Even at 13 Sam had stories that could turn grown men white.

Rob looked at the clock. "I've got a free period after this. If you've got the time, I'll share." Rob said. He wasn't really a bully. Just because of his size he was expected to be.

"Yeah. I can get away. It's just gym." He said with a grin. He was on the job after all. His father would understand when the day was done that he had been doing what he was here to do after all.

"Ooh, brave guy. Cutting your father's class." Rob said with a chuckle as he handed in his next assignment. "Come on, let's grab some sodas. I'll tell them all I'm giving the new kid a tour." He said and started telling the stories as they walked. Fifty years worth of stories, told in the tone of a kid who didn't believe them, and couldn't believe that he once did.

He would think Sam was a lot braver if he knew John Winchester even a little. "That's wild. And these stories are passed down from seniors at these bivouacs like tradition, huh? Wow... so ... did you know the kids the killed themselves?"

"No, I didn't. Just the gym teacher." Rob said. "The guys in the clubs did. Don't know if any of the chem nerds are joining the reformed science club this year, they were pretty shaken up. The drama club should be thrilled," he said with a roll of his eyes, "no more Shakespeare. Too many swords. They're going the musical route from the rumor I heard."

Sam laughed at that, so much that he had to stop for a moment. "Dad signed my older brother up for Drama... this is great. The best news I have heard all day."

Rob chuckled. "Well, he's either going to love it or run out of there screaming for your father's head on a platter." He said. "Me? I stick to football. So much safer."

"I usually avoid sports. I'm one of the science geeks. Math to be specific... chess... who knows what I will wind up stuck with though. Oh well could be worse. I thought I was going to have to deal with a bully the first day, turned out I was wrong." He said with a smile.

"I'm expected to push people around." Rob said with a shrug. "And if I don't, people try to push me around. First time I've been knocked on my ass though."

"I have a lot of experience being pushed around... andI have an ex-marine... a vet... for a father. I had to fight back. Trust me... it's more satisfying to push back than to push first."

"He doesn't do anything stupid like smack you around, does he? Because this is a small community...won't be a secret for long." Rob said.

"No, Dad would never do that. Not in a million years, no matter how much I mouth off. He makes us do push ups." He rolled his eyes. "And learn to defend ourselves. You would think we were in basic training every summer. Part of the reason I get to test out of the basic training here this after noon."

"Just checking, the way you worded that and all." Rob said as the bell rung. "I have to go sit through an English lecture. See you later, Winchester. And seriously, watch your feet." he said with a grin.

"I will, thanks." He said and took off at a run for his history class. Couldn't afford to be late after ditching one class already.

Dean had managed to be on time for the rest of his classes, even if he was slipping in under the bell. His easy smile and lack of self consciousness seemed to draw people to him, and he managed to get a few stories under his belt by the time he showed up for gym class. Thirty seconds early. Sam and Dean were different. Sam toed the line everywhere else except with their father. Dean tried not to everywhere else except with their father, as he gave his dad a nod as he fell into line.

John was furious about Sam's cutting his class. He had expected more from his youngest boy in public. He put the class through their paces, not taking it out on them exactly, but they were seniors, he expected more from them physically. Once they were warmed up, he set them about gathering equipment and walked over to Dean. "Have you seen your brother today?" He asked quietly.

"Not since breakfast." Dean said. "Been a little busy attending my own classes and digging up some information. Sam's probably doing the same I would think. Want me to go find him now?"

"He skipped his last class." John said quietly. "This one." There was an anger in his tone that was obviously not for Dean. "Is it like your brother to cut classes?"

Dean grinned a bit. "He's thirteen, Dad." Dean said. "He's all about pushing limits. And doing the job. I bet there's a reasonable explanation for all of this that includes the opportunity to push your buttons."

"I don't understand your brother." John said, shaking his head. "Okay, go on back with the other boys. I'll talk to Sam tonight after dinner." He said as he went to start wrangling the groups and get them going.

Dean managed to survive gym class, and didn't blame Sam at all for skipping it. And found his rascal little brother in the lunch room. "Dude, skipping Dad's class? On the first day? Thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

"I am definitely the smart one. I got information on all the legends about this place. Supposedly has been haunted for the last 50 years." He said then excitedly went about explaining it all to Dean, including the last three suicides. "Which means no swords in the plays this year... so you... are stuck with musicals."

Dean blanched. "I'm not stuck with anything. I'll get myself kicked out first." He said as they set their trays down. "Seriously dude, Dad's class? Couldn't skip something else? He's going to talk to you after dinner, so I'd lead with the whole getting the information thing first."

"Thanks for the heads up, but could you imagine how pissed he would be if I cut someone else's class? Please, he would be embarassed on top of being pissed. Really, even if it wasn't the only time I could talk to Rob without anyone else around, it was the only class I could skip."

"Okay." Dean said. Made sense to him. Probably wouldn't so much to their father. "Really? Musicals? And somehow I doubt they're going to do 'Tommy.'"

"No... you do realize that most musicals are romances right?" Sam said with a grin as he ate his food. He had to admit the food was better than in the other schools they had attended.

"Too much to hope that we're doing a student written one, about the glories of Ebola set to Megadeath, huh?" Dean said as he picked at his food. It was good, but the whole idea of being in a musical because his father told him he had to was an appetite killer.

"Maybe you'll be lucky and it's West Side Story or something where you can just be one of the guys in the back ground or something." Sam doubted it. His brother had one of those faces people wanted to see out front and center.

"Dude, you gotta be able to sing show tunes to get a real part. I can't." Dean said with a laugh. "So what are we worrying about anyway? They'll stick me with props or something, fine by me. How's the rest of the day going? Anyone mentioned the ears yet?"

"No... got pushed once but I tripped him... then we wound up talking. " Sam shook his head. "I like my first class, but typing has got to be the worst idea ever for a class. I swear the teacher doesn't even like it."

"Thank god I got to get out of that one." Dean said with a laugh. "Mine are all right. BUt keep Dad occupied. Think I'm gonna check out the girls' school tonight."

"Dude, that is so not a good idea this soon. Thought we were gonna break into the school office to check out the records there?" He said, figuring it was pointless. Dean had caught the scent of perfume on the wind and that was all there was to that.

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "Okay, we can do that. Then I'll go out. Helps that we know exactly what we're looking for, right? I mean, all the names match from both version we've heard. So we just check them out, see what the guidance counselors had to write about them, classes they were taking...it'll be fun."

"Sounds good. I wanna see if there are any other actual suicides on record too. Or maybe deaths that they could say weren't suicides that really were. You know how places like to cover things up. Can't have all the kids parents yanking them out of school after all."

"Yeah, that would definitely cut into the bottom line." Dean said as his appetite picked back up and he started to eat again. "And this gives us a reason to cut Dad's whole lecture at you short. Limited amount of time after all, to get done all that he wants done."

"Yeah... that'll work." Sam said rolling his eyes. He half expected his father to chew him out for investigating at all, after all they weren't even told they were assigned to the hot spots for teen suicide at this school.

"Give him a little credit, Sam." Dean said. "Obviously he wants our help with this, or he would have sequestered us at Bobby's or Pastor Jim's."

"Yeah but he couldn't be bothered to tell us that he signed us up for the danger zone. Hasn't told us anything more than unexplained suicides."

"Could be that's all he knows." Dean pointed out. "Look, you want to be down on Dad, I can't stop you. But right now, we got other things to worry about. Two students and a teacher seem to off themselves every few years. New school year. Three new targets."

"I'm not down on Dad. I just don't like being left in the dark." Sam said. "That's all. " He didn't hate his father, he just hated that his father never seemed to think he needed details, which Sam did. Unanswered questions hung over his head like the sword of Damocles.

"Well, we answered our own questions so that's fine." Dean said. "Besides, it's better if we do it ourselves, I'll admit, Dad isn't the most...forthcoming...of guys."

"That isn't the point though, Dean. It really isn't. " He sighed "Never mind. We'll do what ever we need to do, on our own, like we always do." If he had let himself think about it, he would have realized that the reason he hated it so much was that it was just another wall between him and his father. Further evidence that he was in some way unwelcome. But he didn't let himself admit that, at least not aloud, because the only reason Sam could think of that John would want to shove him away, was his mother's death.

"Of course." Dean said. "Up to and including switching musical for science club, right?" Dean asked hopefully. "I'm interested in science you know. Really."

"What was it you said last year?" Sam asked with glint in his dark eyes. "The only science you were interested in was chemistry... the chemistry between you and that cheerleader.. Bambi or what ever her name was. No way am I switching it out with you. I'd rather gargle acid thanks."

"Mandy. Her name was Mandy. Or Candy. Or Mindy. Something like that." Dean said. "Oh come on, Sammy! Look, all this artsy stuff is right up your alley. Really. You just gotta find that part of yourself that screams for the stage and let it loose."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Not a single bone in my body screams for the stage. You're the ham, not me." He pointed out. This was fun. It really was, although if he told Dean how much he was enjoying watching his older brother squirm, he might wind up with a black eye the first day of school after all. "It's okay. I'm sure they won't do anything so girly as The King and I... maybe you'll get lucky and get Camelot or something."

Dean scowled. "Dude, you're not helping." He said. "Fine, you want to hang your brother out to dry, to flap in the wind like this, I see how it is."

"Yeah I bet you do since you are wanting to hang me out in your place. I can't even carry a tune in a bucket Dean... my voice is still changing."

"Fine." Dean said. "But when you're asked to do something humilitating, don't expect any back up from me."

"What... like cutting off all my hair?" Sam asked.

"Dude, I completely backed you up. I have the same haircut, don't I?" Dean pointed out. "I feel your pain. And the draft on my neck."

"Yeah well at least you don't look like you are about to take flight." Sam pointed out. Then sighed as the bell rang. "Back to class I guess. See you at the obstacle course after classes."

"Absolutely." Dean said as he grabbed his bag and headed off to class. The rest of the classes were a bore, even by Sam standards. Several times a year, Dean and Sam were independent study from the backseat of the Impala, and Dean could swear he covered some of this stuff before.

Sam was relieved when the classes were done and he hurried down to the obstacle course to find his father and brother waiting for him. "Sorry, got held after class for a few minutes because the teacher wanted to ask me some questions." He said, trying not to shift uncomfortably under John's gaze.

John frowned but nodded at the provost. Who he had graduated with. "Okay, all you two have to do is this obstacle course and then you'll be considered tested out of basic training and most promotion exams."

Dean looked at the long course. "That's it?" He said, unimpressed.

John chuckled and looked at his sons "Alright you two. Get to it. " He said and waited for them to be in position, then gave the go. The brothers started off neck and neck, Sams long legs keeping up with Dean's all the way to the tires, where he lost a little time, due to large feet and gangly legs.

Dean got through the tires and backtracked. "Come on, Sam." Dean said. "Don't shove your whole foot in there. On your toes. Easy, just on your toes."

Sam was conditioned to listen to his brother's voice, to follow his instructions. There was a competition between them, and typical brotherly antagonism, but that tone, the one Dean used when trying to help him, was the one that pushed Sam onward and brought immediate action.

Dean nodded and moved past Sam onto the next section, and the next. Calling out tips over his shoulder. And warnings about loose ropes or stray edges of metal that hadn't been sanded down. Finally crossing the finish line and going for his bottle of water, doubling back with his water to encourage Sam on.

Sam came in shortly after his brother. He sank down to the ground and took his own water bottle, thanking his brother, grinning at him a little. That was a rough course he supposed, but only because it was timed, and Sam had been desperately trying to keep up with his older brother.

Dean wiped off his face and grinned at his father. Then at Brad Halloran. "So am I still a plebe?" He asked teasingly as he caught his breath.

"I believe we can do away with the plebe status." Brad said then looked at the Provost who was over seeing the test. He nodded in agreement. "You've done a fine job with your boys, John. I'm impressed." John smiled. "I just taught 'em what to do, they're the ones that ran the course.""Well, Captain and Corporal Winchester, welcome to the Academy. I will have your insignia brought to your quarters. It will be waiting for you once you get out of the showers. "Sam smiled. Corporal. That was the rank his father had when he was active duty in the corp. Not bad for a freshman he figured. "Thank you, Sir."

"Dude, I outrank you. You have to call me sir." Dean said with a chuckle. "Thank you sir." He said to the provost. "Come on, let's hit the showers."

"I so am not going to call you Sir unless it's an official school function, Ya Jerk." Sam said as he took off after his brother.

"Corporal Bitch." Dean said with a chuckle as they showered and waited for lights out. Then they snuck out to the student records office and Dean deftly picked the lock. Their father knew, and was going to provide cover with the janitors as they let themselves in and turned their flashlights on. "Okay, so fifty years ago it started, right?"

"That's what they say." Sam said. "Don't have names or anything to go on. Probably covered up so we should look for things like accidents or run aways that could fit the pattern."

"Okay. We'll compare the first term roster with the attendance charts for the last day of school." Dean said as he went to find them. They were in for a long night. "So did you know we broke records today? How cool is that? Completely gave the GI Joe wannabes a Winchester smack down."

"I think it completely rocks" Sam said with a grin. "You know Corporal is as high as a freshman can get in the ranks? And you totally skipped over two ranks too."

"Dude, by tomorrow morning, we'll be rock stars." Dean said with a grin. "Okay, fifty years ago is a bust." He said, putting that one down and moving onto forty nine years ago.

"You know what... let's go back wards from last year. Might be easier. Who knows how long ago this actually started? Rumor mills being what they are." Sam suggested.

"Sounds like a better idea." Dean said with a sigh. "Those should be computerized though. Dad happen to give you a password or did you get all hacker on me?"

"He gave me his. They all use the same one, work on the same records apparently." He said and moved over to the desk and turned the computer on.

"That's good." Dean said. "So how'd your talk with Dad go? Was he still blow away by his rock star sons to really give you that hard of a time?"

"Are you kidding? He is making me play foot ball of all things this year." Sam said, rolling his eyes and looking back at the computer as it finally completed its start up process. "He didn't care that I found out all the information because he already knew it, and it wasn't an excuse for cutting class."

"Dude, so not getting sympathy from me. School musical. Football. Obviously the first one gets more sympathy than the last one." Dean said with a scowl. "Why couldn't I play a sport? No, I have to be the actor person instead. You're so frigging lucky. Wanna switch?"

"I would love to trade you, but this is what Dad considers punishment for ditching gym class. Never mind I wouldn't have had to if he had told me what was going on."

"Yeah, okay, it's punishment. So what am I being punished for then?" Dean asked as Sam booted him up on another computer and he started scrolling through records also, printing out the ones that seemed pertinent.

"Welcome to my world." Sam said as he too delved into the records, looking for anything that might vaguely mean a disappearance or a suicide. "I want to get into town to check the news papers on microfiche as well."

"Ooh, field trip." Dean said. "I bet we can arrange that. We're rock stars, remember?" He said with a grin. "And if it's official case business, Dad can't say no."

"Dad says no quite frequently when it doesn't make any sense that he should." Sam pointed out. "So we should have a contingency plan."

"Got one." Dean said as he gathered a stack off the printer. "Dad has his truck, the Impala is mine...we got wheels, and a reputation to pound out. So we just go."

"There is that. " Sam said. "Since when did you turn into a rebel at home? Thought that was my job?"

"I"m not a rebel at home. I'm doing the job, right? That's what we're supposed to do. Besides, I always cut school. Just with a boarding school I can cut school without actually missing classes." Dean said.

"At a boarding school... rebelling at school IS rebelling at home." Sam pointed out. "Especially with Dad in the room next door."

"Hey, he's the one that stuck me in an all boy school. He's gotta expect that I'll go searching for the girls one way or another. So we'll let him think that. And that I dragged you as cover, using the 'job' as an excuse." Dean said. "He'll laugh, say 'that's my boy' or make some remark on my hormones and let it go."

"Yeah great for you but I will still be the rotten kid that snuck out of the school and disrespected him and the rules." He shook his head. "It's a double standard you know."

"Of course it is. But it's the same double standard that has me watching you, even though when I was your age, I was watching you. It's the same double standard that has me giving up plans at every turn because he says you can't stay home alone." Dean said with an easy shrug. "He's a dad. They excell in double standards."

Sam shook his head. "No... what it says is he thinks I am an idiot that can't manage to tie his own shoes without help from my big brother." Sam grumbled as he gathered the last of the printed papers. "No matter what I do, it isn't good enough or smart enough or strong enough. Then he wonders why I don't try and please him any more. You are so lucky where he is concerned. He at least acknowledges you have a brain."

"Yeah, okay." Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "Come on, we done here? Not sure how much longer Dad can stall the janitor and I want to take a look around the town at least."

"Yeah, we're done." Sam said with a sigh. More frustrated by the roll of Dean's eyes than anything else. His brother didn't get it. Sam swore there were days he thought he was adopted or something. Someone his dad was stuck with, rather than his son like Dean. He turned off the computers and got up. "Let's go."

"Best idea you've had all night." Dean said jovially. "So there' s a burger joint open late, I say we hit that. Dinner sucked." Even if Dean had had seconds, it still sucked.

"I'm all for that." Sam said. "Let's get this back to our room and go from there." He didn't want to deal with his dad. Not with the whole football thing, and the double standard out in the open. He would just open his big mouth and an argument would fall out. So Sam figured it was better to just keep his mouth shut around John for a while.

Dean grinned. "Good." Dean said as they headed back to their room and Dean showed Sam an unlocked exit he had found previously. Sure, it was unlocked because Dean had jammed the lock, but it was unlocked all the same. Sam seemed like he could use some brother time anyway.

Sam let Dean lead the way, staying quiet so as not to draw any attention. Once they were in the car he let out a sigh of relief. "I don't know... not sure what to think of this place yet."

"Dude, no girls. Curfew. Uniforms. Bad haircuts. What's to think? It's horrible." Dean said with a scowl as he pulled out of the parking lot. "The kids seem all right. Right now. The teachers aren't so bad. They're like all the other teachers I guess. But dude, no girls."

"You're gonna survive no girls." Sam said. "I promise. Do you think we are going to see much more of Dad here? I mean other than class?" There was a hopeful tone to his voice. As much as he thought he hated his dad, he really did love him.

"Dude, of course we are." Dean said. He was ambivalent toward that. He loved his dad, admired his dad. Truth be told, his father was his hero and he pretty much worshipped the man. But he was seventeen, and attempting to spread his wings. He wasn't sure how successful he'd be with his dad around all the time. "Probably more than we want to in fact. But it'll be good."

"As opossed to seeing him in the middle of the night when he comes in half dead." Sam said shaking his head. "I mean, you're more of a dad to me than he is most of the time. Not that I blame him for being gone, but that doesn't change things."

Dean shook his head. There were often times he felt more like a dad to Sam than John did. That was a fact. Didn't mean he was going to give his dad a short shift on the whole parenthood thing. He pulled into the burger joint, where a few of the kids from school had also snuck out to go to. "See? They'd have to suspend half the senior class." Dean said with a smirk. "What do you want on your burger?"

"Everything." Sam said. "With mustard not mayo." He said. "And onion rings." He added. "I'm gonna figure out where the library is here in town. "

"Dude, the library is closed." Dean said with a laugh. "Why don't you see if you can have a little fun for a few minutes. Meet some new people. Maybe make some acquaintances."

"I-" Sam sighed. "Okay." He didn't want to make aquaintances. You got to like people and never got to see them again. He wanted to solve the case and get out of that place before he wound up stuck there. But Dean was willing to do something with him, so he didn't complain out loud.

"All right then." Dean said with a grin as he got out to get their hamburgers, flirting with the countergirl. It would suck if he got out of practice, being sentenced to a boarding school for boys and all.

Sam took a seat at one of the tables outside and waited for his brother. Little brothers were not girl magnets and Dean was working on a close encounter with one.

Dean came back a few minutes later with their food, and two extra orders of fries. On the house. And sat down across from Sam with a grin. "Here you go." He said, giving Sam his food, then bit into his own hamburger. "Definitely beats mess hall food."

Sam nodded. "Definitely." He said with the first enthusiasm he had shown in a long while. "So what's her name and when are you taking her out?" He teased.

"And that's why you're my favorite little brother." Dean said. "It's your overwhelming confidence in me. How can I not score with a girl? Then I'd disappoint you!" He said with a laugh. "Tina. Friday."

Sam laughed and gave him a look. "I'm your only little brother. Kinda hard not to be your favorite little brother."

"Sure it is. I could hate you." Dean said with a grin as he ate a fry. "Luckily I don't. Cause she's got a sister who's a freshman. How's that?"

"Am I even allowed to date yet?" He asked, the question had never really come up. His last girlfriend had been a junior high thing, it wasn't a real girlfriend as Dean had pointed out, and dating wasn't really an option, but he was in highschool now.

"Dude, yeah. I was dating by your age. It's the whole test of manhood thing." Dean said with a laugh. "I'll clear it with Dad. Don't worry. I'm that good."

Sam nodded. His first date and it was a blind date, well, it would be interesting. "At least if Dad says no, you aren't stuck having to baby sit me any more. "

"Hey, if Dad says no, I tell him I have to bring you anyway. And she'll bring her sister and you'll go on your date anyway. It'll be fine." Dean said confidentally.

"He listens to you more than me... so it might work." He said. "So long as we can get out of the school grounds every couple of days it might not be too bad here while we are doing the job." Sam figured he could put up with it for how ever long he had to so long as they all left together.

"Dude, he's not going to stick you in a military school." Dean said. "When we leave, we all leave together." Not that Dean really thought it was a chance, but even if it was, Dean would put his foot down about that subject.

Sam wasn't so sure. It was just a feeling he had where his father was concerned. Although if he investigated those feelings, it wouldn't be so much coming from his father, as his own reaction to the man being gone as much as he was. "Okay." Sam said. He knew Dean wouldn't ditch him. That was the one thing he was sure of in his life, he could always count on Dean to be there when he needed him.

"So let's eat, then socialize, then we'll get some sleep." Dean said. "Because tomorrow, crap, we BOTH have to be in gym class because you decided to cut on the first day."

Sam laughed. "Okay." He said and looked around. "Not seeing any freshman, you sure it's okay if I tag along?" He asked remembering the previous year when Dean had wanted his own space and his own friends.

"Dude, you're in high school now. You gotta learn to move between the classes." Dean said with a chuckle. "When I was a freshman, I had friends in the senior class, junior, sophomore...I actually 'dated' a junior." He said with a grin. "It's fine."

"You change attitudes more with each year lately than I can keep track of." Sam pointed out, and went to work on his fries.

"Dude, you're in high school now. Now there's overlap. It's cool." Dean said. "Before...you were in middle school. Completely different." It made perfect sense to him.

Sam shook his head. "The year before that I was in middle school too. I know... we had that conversation before we packed up and left the last town... but just so you know... it makes no sense to me."

Dean laughed. "It will. Someday." Dean promised. "Come on, let's go meet some of the other kids."

Sam got up, carrying his drink with him. He let Dean take the lead socially. He had more experience than Sam.

Dean struck up conversations with different groups, introducing himself and his brother to them. Hey, they were the new kids, that couldn't be denied. No reason to stay the outcast new kids after all. In a regular school that was one thing. But they were living at the school, that changed the whole perspective.

Sam smiled and talked, some of them were in the science club with him. Science classes were unique. As were the higher math classes. They were not segregated only to one age group. So some of them he saw once or twice a day since he was in advanced placement classes. They were nice enough.

"Hey, Sam, this is Nick." Dean said, Nick was a senior in his english class. "He's on the football team." And looked like it too."Sam's going to play football this year."

"Right on." Nick said. "Ever played before?"

"With Dad and Dean, that's about it. Played soccer in the past, I know that isn't the same but it's what you have to work with." He said with a laugh, trying to make light of it.

"Nick, think you can show Sam some stuff before tryouts?" Dean asked. If Dad wanted a football player in the family, then Dean was going to give him one. It would be good for Sam too...something he and their dad could bond over outside of the realm of the supernatural.

"Sure." Nick said. "I can help the freshmen out, no problem. You up for it, Sam?"

"Sure." Sam said, mostly because it would embarrass Dean if he didn't. He had secretly hoped to bomb out of try outs, but he was stuck now. "Sounds good."

"Good." Dean said. He'd have someone to watch out for his little brother, try to find common ground between Sam and their dad, and get Sam socialized all at the same time. It was a brilliant plan.

"Too bad you guys don't have a soccer team though. I could seriously get into that too." After all soccer season and football season were not the same time of year.

"Yeah, well, we can't have everything." Nick said. "I was hoping they'd get a lacrosse team, but no go." He said with a shrug.

"You ever notice that they always consider the sports that take more skill to be girly sports?" Sam asked, with a laugh. Lacrosse was an impressive sport as far as he was concerned.

"That's because the ones deciding what sports they will and won't fund couldn't play those so called 'girly' sports, so feel better about their own lack of masculinity and testosterone, they call them girly sports." Nick said with good humor.

The school was a small school, the classes themselves were small, usually no more than fifty or sixty, so friendships and cameraderie across grade levels were common.

Sam laughed. "Dad would love that." He said. "Dad is testosterone on two legs and if it isn't baseball or football it's girly."

Nick scoffed. "Well, there goes respect for the gym teacher." He said with a chuckle.

"Don't let him know that. He'll punish the rest of us." Dean said with a grin. "Like today when Sam decided to cut gym, us seniors paid for it!"

"You cut your own father's class?" Another kid, a junior, said. He was impressed. That took balls.

Sam blushed. "Yeah well, he didn't buy the story that it would have been more embarassing for him if I had cut someone else's class instead." Sam shrugged.

The kids laughed at that. And to include Sam in on their conversations and jokes. On the way back to the school, Dean looked at his brother. "See, they're not so bad. It won't be horrible here."

"Yeah, they are alright." He said with a nod. "Almost gonna suck when we leave." Sam pointed out, still trying to hold on to things staying as normal, and them leaving in a couple of months.

"Yeah, it might." Dean allowed. "I'll let you know after I see more than one girl." He said with a wink as he shut off his lights and coasted into the parking lot.

"Bets on whether or not he is waiting in our room for us?" Sam asked, quietly out of habit.

"And if he is?" Dean said with a shrug as they quietly eased the doors shut and crept into the dormitory again. "I mean, we saw a quarter of the student body out there. So all we're doing is fitting in. Besides, I left a copy of the notes on my desk anyway. So that should satisfy him that we weren't playing the whole night."

"True." Sam said, not wanting to point out once again the double standard where the boys were concerned. Who knew, it might be okay with Dean with him out there. But he doubted it.

Dean led the way through the darkened dorm. Lights out meant literally that here. Which sucked. He could see getting a stubbed toe trying to find the bathroom in the middle of the night here. "Okay, no one in the hall." Dean said at the last turn.

Sam nodded and then let Dean lead the way to the bedroom. Better Dean be the first one seen if their dad was waiting inside. If Sam went in first it would set the stage for a fight.

Dean cautiously went in and turned on the light. And sighed in relief. No dad. But his notes were gone. "Well, he knows we went out." Dean said with grin. "Not sure if it's good or bad that he's not here."

"Yeah... " Sam said with a frown as he sat down on the bed to take off his shoes. "It's not like him, that's for sure. Maybe he's working " He suggested.

"I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth." Dean stated as he changed for bed and hopped into the top bunk. "He can rag on us tomorrow all he wants."

"Oh I'm sure he will." Sam said, stripping down to his boxers and tossing his clothes over the nearest chair. "I'm setting the alarm a little early tomorrow. I don't want to wake up to the banging of a garbage can again."

"Tell me about it." Dean grumbled. He'd force himself to get out of bed before the garbage pail banging maniac came in. "We should throw water on him or something."

"Sounds good to me." Sam said with a grin.

"Night Sam." Dean said as he reached down and turned off the light.

Bright and early the next morning, Dean was waiting. On such short notice, all he could come up with was two glasses of water, but it was enough when they came storming into the room to wake Sam and Dean up. Splash! In their faces and over their heads before they could even start banging.

The room was filled with yelling and laughter and four boys uncertain if it was going to be a brawl or the begining of a new friendship. John looked in the door and frowned. "What's going on in here?" He asked.

Dean grinned. "Payback." He said with a chuckle. Though Dad looked tired, dark circles under his eyes. Dean wanted to think that he was up late with research even if...he looked...hung over.

John looked to all four boys, none of which looked the worse for wear. "Get on about it then. You're going to be late for PT." He said with not even half the thunder that would normally fill his voice.

Sam looked worriedly at his father.

Dean exchanged a look with Sam. A boiling John was expected. A simmering John wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. But a luke warm John? Dean had rarely seen that. "Come on, Sam, let's grab the showers before the rest do." He said carefully.

Sam nodded and left the room, still looking over his shoulder at his father. "It's not November ... " Which was the only time he ever saw his father looking like that. The anniversary of their mother's death.

"I know." Dean said. Every year, from November 1st until November 3rd, their father went on a bender. They usually stayed with Bobby or Pastor Jim then. "Think he's drinking?" He asked quietly.

"He doesn't drink on a job." Sam said with a worried frown. "Something's wrong with him. Think he might be getting sick? "

Dean kept his expression neutral, but that thought scared him. John was their last surviving parent. If he died...that was it. There were no more parents for them. They'd truly be orphans, with no clue what they were going to do, where they were going to live...

He banished the thought from his mind. "I hope not. He'll get whiny like you whenever you're sick."

"Dude, you whine too. Usually about not wanting to stay in bed, but you whine." Sam said as he got into the shower. "It's probably just a headache or something... up too late researching." He said, although he didn't really believe it. Not really. Something was wrong with their dad.

"Yup." Dean jovially agreed. But planned to cuta class and go through his dad's room. Just in case. He'd dispose of anything like that while John was in class.

Their dad seemed back in true form at PT. At least what they were used to. He pushed all the students as hard as he pushed his boys, and in some ways that was gratifying to Sam. And no small point of pride as he and Dean managed to keep up with everything their old man ordered.

Dean wiped his forehead with the back of his hand once John dismissed them. Just said 'dismissed' and walked off the field. "Okay, I think a part of him got off on that." Dean said shaking his head.

"He likes all this military stuff... " Sam said still watching his father carefully. "Well, off to breakfast then first class." He liked his first class still. it was the second one he dreaded except for his new friend there.

Dean ate breakfast, and waited until fifteen minutes into his first class and started complaining of food poisoning. He was given a pass to the nurse, but didn't go. Instead he broke into his father's room and started searching.

And had to choke down the disappointment he felt when he found the half empty whisky bottle. He dumped it, and dumped the rest of them, and took the keys to his father's truck. This way, if he wanted more, he'd have to bum a ride, and risk getting talked about as the new alkie teacher.

Sam didn't dare cut classes two days in a row. Besides, he wanted to check up on his father and that meant going to gym class. He dressed out and joined the rest of the students in formation to await his father's direction. His eyes never once left John through out the class.

John barked out his instructions to the students and retreated to a corner to watch. Yelling out corrections and such until he was moderately satisfied. He needed coffee and a bottle of Tylenol in a bad way, and he knew it.

Sam waited for the class to end and the other students to head off to the showers. He had a free period next, he could afford to take his time. "Hey Dad... you okay?"He asked worriedly.

"Yeah, Sammy." John said with a sigh as he ran a hand over his hair. "I'm good. Just tired today. All that driving is finally catching up with me. Think your dad might be getting old." He said with a shadow of a smile.

"Okay." He said, still looking worried. "I have a free period this hour, want me to stick around or go get you anything?" He asked.

John was used to Dean hovering. Dean hovered over the both of them, it was normal for Dean. Most of the time, Sam either ignored John's very existence or pushed at his buttons deliberately. But he nodded. "A cup of caffeine would be nice." He said.

"Okay, I'll go change then be right back with your coffee." The school had rules about what was to be worn where, after all. He didn't dawdle as he normally would with a request from John. He was back in short order witha cup of black coffee and a bottle of extra strength tylenol.

"Thanks." John said. His office was a little dim, the only thing he would compromise on right now. He was an uncompromising man, not only to his sons, but to himself. "So how's classes going?"

"Not too bad. Typing sucks but it's easy enough. Just boring." He said. "I like math, and science. " He told his father the story of the would be bully that had would up being a sort of friend after he had tripped him.

"You always were my whiz kid." John said with a fond chuckle. "I told you it wouldn't be that bad here."

"Yeah... that's cause I have you and Dean here too. Most of the other kids are stuck without family here with them. That would seriously suck."

John looked at Sam. "Sammy, I'm not going to finish the job, take Dean and leave." He said. His son's face was always like water in a clear bowl. Completely transparent.

Sam swallowed then. "I didn't mean it to come across like that." He said, he hated it that his father could read those thoughts, or whatever it was that gave him away half the time. They were usually thoughts that brought about arguments when out in the open.

"I know." John siad, holding up a hand in a concillatory gesture. He wasn't up to an argument right now. "Just telling you."

"So, you found our research last night... I'd like to get into the public library and see what the news papers have... see if it's wider spread than the school... or if it's centered here."

John nodded. "Have your brother drive you." John said. Because he wasn't about to drive when he was, well, he wasn't about to drive.

"I will after last class." He said with a nod. "What was it like when you went to school here?" He asked.

John leaned back in his chair and drank his coffee. "It was about the same really, this place doesn't change all that much." He said. "Same uniforms, same formations...I even think the librarian and the lunch aide are the same come to think of it."

"Wow... no wonder there is a ghost hanging on here. If nothing changes... especially if it's the ghost of a teacher, 'cause new students every year would be nothing new... a student though... there would have to be something serious to keep them around."

"Question is, what?" John said, taking out his own notes. "Revenge? Despair? Unfinished business?" Those were the ideas, among others, he'd come up with before Jack Daniels had taken over his mind the previous night.

"That's just it... as a kid, revenge makes some sense but only if they haven't gotten it yet. Like ... some bully or something is still alive, or his killer is... Despair or what have you could just be that they weren't buried right or something..."

"And considering kids come from all over the country, and sometimes the world, to come to this school...that's a train of thought I hope we don't have to pursue." John said with a chuckle. Figuring out where all the kids were buried and redoing it. All over the nation.

"No kidding... but this seems more like a revenge thing... the science kid with the acid... I mean that isn't just driving someone to depression... that's pushing pretty hard for the most painful death possible."

"I know." John said. "So we're on the revenge track. Lot of possibilities with that one too. Adolescents can hold onto rage for a long time. Could be anything, even a bad grade or something seemingly inane as that."

"Only if that bad grade seriously cost them something. I mean the only teacher targeted is the gym teacher. It would have to screw up their GPA beyond recognition... and gym just doesn't do that all by its self." He said, not thinking in terms of what a physical failure would mean in a military setting. He was one of the bright kids that had a future assured if given the chance to take hold of it.

"This is a military school." John said. "All it takes is for one kid to be humiliated in gym class, either the teacher pushed too hard, or the kid wasn't up for it...and his career here is over."

"And he is suddenly bully bait." Sam said with a nod, suddenly very glad that his father had pushed him to excel physically as well as intellectually. "Which could lead him to suicide after a while with no escape from it. Makes sense with the teacher, but then we have the science geek and the drama kid."

"Once we find ground zero of it all, it'll be easier to figure out how all the pieces fit together." John said.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Might find out more tonight at the library. You know... if the school records are right, what ever it is happened when you were going to school here."

"Nothing really happened when I went to school." John said, thinking. "I'll ask the provost just in case, maybe he remembers something I don't, but no one was exceptionally picked on, our gym teacher survived...actually he retired two years after I graduated. Died three years ago."

Sam nodded. "If it did happen, it might have been covered up, I mean... why would they let the kids know? Most kids are pretty fragile. It's weird you know. Dean and I can handle a lot cause we have always known, but other kids... the ones that figure it out on their own what's out there... they arepretty cracked, and the rest wouldn't know what to do with a normal murder, one committed by a ghost, well that would tweak their world in all the wrong ways."

"Or maybe you and your brother are just the living by product of my world getting tweaked in all the wrong ways." John pointed out in a rare moment of complete and brutal honesty.

"Dad, I know that I complain a lot. But ... I get it. Okay. I really do. Dean and I could be a lot worse off with some other dad. You're doing what you have to do to keep us safe... and it isn't your fault... it's mine."

John looked at his son at that. And looked at him hard. "Sam, nothing is your fault. Got it? If it's anyone's fault it's mine. Because I should have protected your mother somehow. Because I somehow should have known something was in there. Because I shouldn't have fallen asleep in front of the TV that night. But it's never your fault, and it never has been."

"How can it not be... she died trying to save me. You couldn't have known it was in there." Sam said, his voice catching in his throat. "You aren't the reason that thing was there... I am... why did it want me, Dad?"

Instantly sober, John was out of his chair and squatting in front of his youngest boy. Large, strong hands on narrow shoulders that hinted at someday filling out like his father's. Dark eyes met dark eyes and John was emphatic. "I don't know." John said honestly. "But he's not going to get you, as long as I'm alive, got it? You are my son, and I will protect you."

For the first time in a very long while, at least it had been a long while to the mind of a 13 year old boy, Sam slid his arms around his father's neck and hugged him. He genuinely felt close to John in that moment. Reminded of the love that stood strongly between them, even though they argued and fussed throughmost of their every day lives.

"It's going to be okay, Sam." John promised. Not sure how he was going to keep that promise, but he'd try. And right now that's what his youngest son needed to hear.

"I know, Dad." He said and gently eased back. "I just... I worry about you and Dean." He did. He knew that they both protected him, far more than Dean had ever been protected. Sometimes he didn't think his father would ever see him as anything more than a little kid still. Others, he was afraid that he would.

"You don't need to." John said. "I'm the adult, remember? I'm the last one to be worried about. Your brother? I'd be more worried about him getting eaten up by the girls' school. Wonder how long I can keep him from finding it?"

"Don't know about the girls' school, but he already has dates for us with one of the girls from the burger place and her younger sister." He said hoping that his father would laugh and not declare him too young for dating. "Besides... since when does being an adult mean that you don't need to be worried about?"

"Because I said so." John said with a chuckle. "So, wow. A double date. I could say no and say you're too young. But then you'd just point out that Dean was doing his version of speed dating at your age and you'd be right, so I guess all that's left for me to say is have fun."

Sam smiled. "Thanks, Dad... I'd ask for advice but I am pretty sure Dean would just contradict you anyway." He teased.

John laughed. "Open doors. Let her order first. And don't let her pay." John said, getting his wallet out and handing Sam money. He knew he'd at least taught Dean that as well. "Do you have any other...questions...like...about, you know?"

He shook his head. "Dean gave me that talk a few times already. Updated it as he you know... found out more." Sam said with a laugh. "Thanks Dad."

John laughed and shook his head. "Dean gave you the talk. And updates. Well, that's...that's great. Just don't take everything he says as literal Bible truth. It's always different for everyone, and I do think thirteen is way too young for anything past second base."

Sam blushed deeply at that. "Ahm... " He swallowed. "Yeah... had no intentions of that with you know... a girl I don't know... and let's face it with Dean within line of sight, there is no way any girl is going to think about me that way at all."

"Don't sell yourself short. Just sell yourself young." John said. There was a difference between a seventeen year old and a thirteen year old after all. "So go have some fun. For once."

He smiled. "We will. So... you're sure you're okay? " He asked, not having forgotten the way his father had looked that morning.

"I'm fine. Just a late night is all." John said. "Go find your brother, keep him out of trouble." John said with a laugh.

Sam grinned then. "Is that an order?" He asked, seeing a great deal of milage that could come from just such an order.

"Just don't let him get himself arrested." John said with a laugh, seeing where Sam was going with that. He remembered being seventeen. And Dean and Sam deserved whatever free, fun time he could manage to grant them.

Sam laughed. "That will be easy. He will be too busy thinking he has to keep me out of trouble to get into any himself."

John grinned. "Then you've got it all under control then, son." He said.

"So we'll see you later tonight." Sam asked. He didn't know what his dad was like on a hunt, and was hoping that it was just the hunt that was making him seem so blue up to this point. Maybe some time with him and Dean would cheer him up.

"Yeah, we'll catch up later." John said as he watched Sam head to the door. Guilt over putting his boys through this, dragging them from one job to another washing over him again.


	2. Chapter 2

He couldn't believe he'd been signed up for this. This was awful. And he was never forgiving his dad for that.

"Just sign me up for props or something." Dean had mumbled, only to be informed that that was a different club. And this club was for the ahc-teurs or some bullshit. So he slouched in his seat when auditions were announced...and everyone had to audition.

He was never forgiving his dad for this one.

Guys and Dolls. He'd never even HEARD of that one. Not that he'd heard of a lot of musicals, but that was beyond the point. This was going to suck big hairy rocks. Then cough up a hair ball. Of that he was certain.

Of course, Dean didn't know any broadway songs. Or any musical songs. In fact, when push came to shove and he was put on the spot, he only could remember a couple of songs when his mind completely blanked and he hoped the school would be overtaken by rabid lunch aides hopped up on steroids and caffeine before he got to his turn.

John couldn't resist. He had to watch. This was his boy after all. Guys and Dolls... could be a lot worse in the land of musicals. Sinatra and Brando after all. He slipped in with Sam into the balcony and they sat in the back in the shadows.

"Winchester, you're up." Said the instructor.

Dean got up from his seat and headed out to the stage, looking for all the world like a man walking his last few feet before entering the gas chamber. The school wasn't taken over by Nazis, or even a good poltergeist. "You know, I'm not feeling well..." He started

"Either today or tomorrow." The instructor said as he looked over his list. Dean gave a heavy sigh as the piano player looked at him.

"Trust me, you don't know it." He grumbled. Not about to use anything along the lines of anything the others had used, he blanked his mind. And imagined himself driving down the highway, windows down, stereo blaring. He stared straight ahead at the door at the back of the auditorium and could nearly feel the steering wheel vibrate underneath his hands. "So close no matter how far. Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are. And nothing else matters."

Okay, so it wasn't musical theater. But it was one of his favorite songs by one of his favorite bands, and he was able to pretend he was somewhere else.

The instructor raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected him to come up with that of all things but it worked. The kid had potential if he grew into his voice. He would be a good Nathan Detroit. Maybe the understudy depended on how things went. "Alright, take your seat." He said.

Dean gratefully hopped off the stage and slouched far down in his seat. It was over. Which was good. Hey, he'd 'tried', right? Counted for something.

"What was that?" One of the kids next to him whispered. Dean looked at him unbelievingly.

"Excuse me?"

"What play was that from?"

"Dude are you serious?" Dean asked. What kind of freaks was his dad sticking him with? "You know what, never mind." Dean said, closing his eyes. "Obviously it's out of your league."

Halloran sat down next to him, chuckling softly. "Out of their league...right." He whispered. "You gotta forgive these guys. Most of them have been in private school all their lives."

"Dude, no excuse." Dean said with a chuckle of his own. "That's just down right blasphemy. Hopefully it was enough to convince that guy that he really doesn't want me part of his freaking play." He said with a shrug. "Dad 'talked' me into this."

"Dads have a way of doing that. That's my kid brother up there now. He gets off on this stuff. Makes me worry about him." He said with a chuckle.

"If he at least has heard of Metallica, he's ahead of some of the guys here." Dean said with a chuckle as the kid brother sang. Something from "The Sound of Music" which unfortunately Dean was able to recognize. They were stuck in more than one motel over an Easter holiday, and sometimes, that's all that was on TV. Kind of like "It's a Wonderful Life" at Christmas time.

"Guys and Dolls won't be so bad. It's about gamblers after all. Hey Sinatra and Brando were in it... yeah it's a musical but at least it's not completely girly."

Dean laughed. "So you're auditioning too, right?" He said with a grin. "After all, it's not so bad, and not so girly. Sinatra and Brando were in it, and they were guys that in their day definitely scored with anyone worth scoring with. Even if they did sing and dance."

"Well they sang and danced, no one said they did it well." He said. "Yeah, I'm stuck auditioning, too." Halloran said. "With any luck, we'll have limited time on stage."

"If there is any luck, we'll end up the guys that walk across the stage a couple of times, pretending we're a crowd." Dean said with a laugh. "So, the dolls in this play. I'm assuming that means girls. We don't have to play girls, do we?"

"Naw, they like to tease the newbies about that, but the girls' school puts on the play with us every year. The proceeds pay for the military ball and the summer ball they have over there."

"Then this won't be so bad." Dean said with a grin. "I came from a co-ed school, I'm in serious withdrawl, dude."

"It's the real reason to be in drama, man. I tell you they have to come over here to rehearse now don't they?" Halloran said with a grin of his own. "Besides, I hear you already have a date lined up. Not a lot of withdrawl going on if you already have one lined up on the second day."

Dean chuckled. "Okay, point taken. But still." He said. "So what did you have all prepared for your audition? I didn't even know I had to audition." While it was obvious that some of these kids had been preparing all summer for it.

"Okay... you gotta understand.." He said, blushing. "My mother... has a doctorate in music. She found out we were doing musicals this year and went nuts over summer break. " He said, giving the lead in.

Dean did his best not to laugh. "Somehow I doubt Metallica is in her repetoire." He said, keeping a straight face. "So, let me guess from what I've heard here so far today. My Fair Lady? Camelot? Your brother did Sound of Music. Okay, I give up. Les Miserables?"

"Oh god no... " he said wrinkling his nose. "It sounds worse than it is... Jesus Christ Superstar. Song called 'Heaven On Their Minds'. My mom drug us to see it in an offBroadwayrevival one Christmas break." He said rolling his eyes. "But hey, it's not all girly so it's good."

"True. I'll take your word for it. And if it is, I'll mock you." Dean said with a laugh. "So you've done this drama thing all the way? Know the kid that decided to shish ka bob himself last year?"

"Yeah I did. He was a senior last year. Didn't think for a minute he was the sort of guy that would do that. He had girls eating out of his hands, great parents as far as any of us could tell. I mean they actually showed up to visit, sent letters and stuff. He'd just gotten the letter that he was accepted into Annapolis."

"So seemed completely out of the blue." Dean said. And a gory way to go at that, gutting yourself. "Oh hey, you're up. Remember, don't be girly, or I will mock you, colonel or not."

"If you think this is girly, YOU can go live with my dad. He would love you." Halloran said as he got up and headed that way, handing over a tape to one of the other students to put into the PA system. "Sorry can't doit a capella." He said sheepishly and took his position in the middle of the stage, not bothering with a microphone.

A steady rock rift filled the room, a powerful background strangely fitting the voice that came from the young man on stage. A voice that betrayed his youth, yet the power that was currently buried within potential poured forth as he relaxed in the lyrics, the words of a pleading Judas.

"Listen Jesus, do you care for your race? Don't you see we must keep in our place? We are occupied. Have you forgotten how put down we are? I am frightened by the crowd. For we are getting much too loud. And they'll crush us if we go too far. If we go too far..."

Dean chuckled and looked at the drama kid next to him. "Dude, you're so toast. Think you've been demoted to chorus." He said as the kid grumbledto himself. Brad was good, even Dean could tell that. And he'd even admit it wasn't a girly song, a chance always taken with musicals.

The teacher stopped and listened, not bothering with his papers anymore. That was certainly a surprise. "Thank you." He said to Brad when he was done. Well, he'd found his Sky, that was for certain.

Brad went back to his seat, half expecting to be razzed as he went. He had gone a little over the top with the audition he knew but his parents would be coming to the play and even though there was nothing about a musical that would make his father proud, his mother would be disappointed if he didn't succeed.

Dean grinned at him as he returned to his seat. "Dude, that was worth it just to hear the grumbles from the drama geeks." They might have been pressured into this by their parents, for different reasons, but getting to the 'drama establishment' was always a good thing.

Brad chuckled. Yeah there were a lot of his fellow drama students that he would love the chance to rub their noses in it. Some of them were good actors for their age, Brad was passable at acting, but musicals weren't just about the acting. This time he had the edge. "They'll live."

Dean chuckled and looked around. "Oh shit." He said. "My dad is here. And my brother. We can haze the underclassmen, right? It's encouraged? A lot?"

"Why? Looking for a way to get away with harrassing your little brother?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. Big time. You know, before he gets insubordinate and all." Dean said. "Dad signed me up for this. I'm hoping for a nice non speaking, non singing part myself."

"Good luck with that." Brad said with a soft laugh. "If I wind up with a good part, I can please mom and rub my dad's nose in it at the same time. So I'm hoping for at least a little time on stage."

"I don't remember what my mom liked." Dean said. "She died when I was four." He shrugged off the mood. "So you're not into the whole GI Joe thing? You sure got the underclassmen fooled."

"Yeah well, it goes with the territory. Besides, might as well do a good job of it while I'm here. Figure I can make Dad happy until I'm 18 then it's all about me. That's what I tell myself anyway."

Dean chuckled. "Good plan." Dean said, though he couldn't imagine it for himself. Not in the near future, and definitely not when he turned 18 in a few short months. "So when are they going to post the roster or list or whatever it is?"

"Tomorrow morning." He said. "Come on, let's get out of here." Brad didn't want to stick around for the stragglers. Class was over, and he was not at all interested in hanging out just to listen.

"Sounds like a plan." Dean said as he looked at his watch. "Okay, we should be able to make happy hour at the bar a couple miles down the road. Ten to one, I've got the cooler car, I'll drive." He said, waving at his father and brother up in the balcony. That was so humiliating.

"Don't know if you have noticed, but I'm not exactly 21 and people around here know the uniforms and what they mean." Brad pointed out.

Dean laughed. "That's why we change. And I show you how to get around bouncers." Dean said with a grin. "Meet you in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. Wear normal clothes. Nothing too pressed or starched or military."

"Yeah okay." He said figuring what the hell. the worst that could happen was that they got refused and had to find something else to do with their time.

Dean chuckled. Brad had no faith, but he would. Dean hadn't found a bar he couldn't get into, and couldn't get served in, since he was fifteen. So he went back to his room, changed, and left a note for Sam, asking him to jimmy the east door, just in case, and waited in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of the Impala as he waited for his latest protege.

Brad joined him 15 minutes later, having pulled his civilian clothing out ofthe duffel bag in the bottom of his closet. It felt strange to be wearing them again. "Okay... but if this plan of yours doesn't pan out, I know a great place to get pizza and the waitresses are worth the time."

"Then we'll hit that place next." Dean said with a grin as he unlocked the car and headed down to the bar, parking in the lot. The bar was filling up. "Ah, here we go." He said as he quick talked the bouncer until both their hands were stamped with the 'over 21' stamp. "See? Told you it didn't matter."

"That's crazy." Brad said with a grin. "Where did you learn how to pull the wool over people's eyes like that?"

"It's a gift from God." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, let's grab some beer and play some pool. So the waitresses at the pizza place are really worth the time, or just worth the time?"

"One of them is really worth the time, a couple are worth the time.. a couple are not worth the time." He said with a laugh.

"Sounds like you've got your eye on the one that's really worth the time." Dean teased. "Tell me you've talked to her at least."

"Well ... yeah... kinda." Brad said with a shrug. "We talked a little when she brought over the pizza."

Dean chuckled as he got their beers and handed one to Brad as they headed over to the pool table. "Dude, gotta do better than that. I talked a little with the girl at the burger stand and ended up with a date."

"Yeah but I am not the sort of guy that girls fall over themselves for. " He wasn't a bad looking kid, like his voice his features were all in potential of becoming something more.

Dean shook his head. "It's all on the presentation." He said as he drank his beer, pool forgotten. "Actually, you know what, come on. Let's go get some pizza. And you a date."

"Oh come on... I'm not that pathetic... really." Brad said as he finished off his beer. "You know, I was considered one of the cool kids before you arrived." He laughed.

Dean laughed. "You're still one of the cool kids. You're hanging out with me, right?" He said with a grin. "Come on, let's go chat up the girl that's really really worth your time."

Brad grinned. "Sure, why not?" He said as he got and started for the door. "So where did you guys live before coming here?" He asked.

Where had they been? It took Dean a moment as he fished his car keys out and unlocked the car. "South Dakota." Dean said. "Believe me, absolutely nothing there. At all. I was bored to tears most of the time."

"My family is from New York. Dad decided we needed to man up a few years ago and sent us here. Pretty much been here since except for a week at Christmas and two in the summer."

"Dude, my whole life is manning up. If I ever got a break from manning up, it would be not being around my dad." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe we should trade families. We'll keep our brothers though."

"Yeah, I wouldnt trade in Joe for a newer model for anything. The rest of the guys think I'm nuts. They all claim to want free of their little brothers."

"Sam's a pain in my ass. Big time. But let me tell you, he's the one that keeps me out of trouble." Dean said. "If I had to trade him, well, I wouldn't. I'd get violent."

"Don't get me wrong. Joe is a pain in the ass. Not just to me either. But I almost lost him a few years ago. Really puts the pain in the ass thing into perspective. The rest of the guys don't get that. They never had to fight to keep theirs alive. "

"Believe me,I get it." Dean said. His whole mission in life was keeping Sammy safe from harm and everything else that crossed their paths. From bullies to demons. He knew what it meant to keep your brother alive.

Brad was relieved to find that someone finally understood. "He's kinda desperate for my attention sometimes. So... I don't know.. maybe we should see if the kids get along."

"Would make it easier to watch out for the both of them." Dean agreed as he pulled up to the pizza place. If it was possible to make friends in a place he knew he'd be leaving sooner rather than later, then right now he did.

"Yeah. I got the lecture before coming back after summer that I was supposed to lighten up on watching over Joey, but it doesn't just go away. So yeah, anything that makes it easier to keep an eye on him without him knowing I am keeping an eye on him is great."

"I'm supposed to stop babying Sam or something." Dean said with a chuckle. "Says the same guy who made sure we were roommates." He rolled his eyes at that one, because sometimes his dad made no sense.

"And if anything like my parents, the same guy that said to keep an eye on him, make sure he stays safe and doesn't hurt himself too." Brad said.

"Got it in one!" Dean said with a laugh as he pulled into the pizza shop Brad indicated. "Okay, so you ready? Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and she's got a little sister. Tina at the burger place did."

"Joe is so not ready for dating." Brad said with a laugh. "Besides there is only so much embarrassment I am willing to endure even for Joey."

Dean laughed. "I'm going to train Sam myself. Someone has to, right?" He said with a grin as they headed into the pizza place. "Okay, so where's her section?"

"Over here." He said and led the way to a table in her section and took a seat. "The combo is great here."

Dean slid into his chair. "Okay, so I'll talk you up, don't argue with me." Dean said with a laugh. He already had a date for Friday, so he was set. "Combo, huh? Course I'll eat just about anything."

Kayla smiled as she walked over with their menus and two glasses of water "Hi." She said. "Can I get you a soda or anything while you decide?"

"I would love a soda." Dean said easily.

"Um..yeah, a soda, you know, sounds good." Brad said, then Dean kicked him under the table. "So how have you been?" He asked, doing his best not to reach down and rub his shin.

"Not bad, how about you guys... how's your brother doing? "

"He's doing good this year." Brad said. "You know... back to normal."

"Great, I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Dude. Lame." Dean said with a chuckle. "This is going to take some work I see. You're lucky I didn't have any plans for the afternoon."

"What? She asked about him." He said in confusion, not knowing what he had done wrong. "I spoke... even managed not to stammer."

"Well, that's a start." Dean said, shaking his head when Kayla returned with their drinks. Where he quickly engaged her in conversation about Dean being the new kid and Brad showing him all the ropes, turning the conversation back to Brad at every turn.

Brad joined in the conversation a little at a time, getting past his nerves a little with Dean there. This wasn't just any girl. This was the one he had a crush on for the last two years.

"You know, my brother Sam and I are checking out that new horror movie playing this Friday." Dean said. "Actually I'm chaperoning my brother's first date. Could use the company so I don't watch him like a hawk. You two should come with me and Tina."

She smiled and looked over at Brad, gauging his reaction. Then nodded. "Yeah sure, if Brad's going too, why not? Could be fun."

"You ahm... want me to pick you up?" Brad asked.

Dean grinned. Fifteen minutes. Had to be a new record for him. He drank his soda in quiet as he watched the two make plans for the movie, transportation, dinner and pick up. Then, when Kayla got up to check on another table, Dean grinned wider. "See? That wasn't so hard."

"Yeah, especially with you doing the asking for me. If there is a next time it should come much easier." He rolled his eyes but he grinned in a way that said thanks without having to get all sappy and say it.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, well, you're on your own for the actual date. I'm hoping I'll have my hands full. Besides, by then the cast should be posted, and you can blow her over with taking Marlon Brando's role." He said with a chuckle, though he actually had no idea who Marlon Brando played. "I remember last year, we had to watch A Streetcar Named Desire in english, and the girls were just making all sorts of comments about a young Marlon Brando, treating him as if he were nothing more than a side of beefcake for them to leer at. Women have no respect, man." He said with a grin.

Brad laughed. "Somehow I doubt having a lead in a musical is going to impress a girl." He said. "At least not a high school musical." He was having fun, he was relaxing and letting himself just be a kid, not worried about rank or who was watching.

"Dude, girls get impressed by the strangest things." Dean said with a laugh. "I had a girl go out with me just because of my car. Weird, huh?"

"Are you kidding? There are straight guys that would go out with you for that car." He teased in return. "That is so not a strange thing."

"My brother doesn't understand. He just sees a hunk of metal on four rubber tires. He's such a child." Dean said with a laugh. "But I've been known to use it to my advantage. Hey, a guy uses whatever he can, right?"

"Exactly. Little brothers don't get a lot of things but it's okay. They'll grow up eventually." Brad said, then smiled up as Kayla returned with their drinks.

"You two made up your minds what you want to order?" She asked.

"Combo." Brad said. "And bread sticks." He looked to Dean to see if he wanted anything else.

"Some garbage bread too." Dean added as Kayla wrote in on her pad and headed to the kitchen to put in the order. "Dude, in case I didn't say it before, good taste."

Brad smiled. "Yeah I think so. You can see why I was so nervous." He said. "She goes to the public school in town so if she wants to go out with me again, it will take special permission to get her into the military ball. But it would be worth it."

"You can't be nervous. Because chicks smell it like blood on the water." Dean said with a laugh. "That's when they go in for the kill. She's just a girl, you're just a guy, and it's just a Friday night. Now take a deep breath."

Brad did just that and laughed. "Yeah I guess. Easy for you to say. They seem to eat out of your hand." Although he was relieved that Kayla didn't seem overly interested in Dean at all.

"Oh yeah, Kayla was hanging on my every word." Dean scoffed with a laugh. It wasn't the point for Kayla to hang on Dean's every word, so it wasn't insulting or ego blowing that she didn't. If she did, it would actually have been disasterous. "It shouldn't be hard to get her into the military ball. You're the head of the class, all that rank stuff and everything. Flaunt your power, dude!"

"You are trying to create a monster. It's a good thing Halloween is coming up." He said with a laugh.

"Well, you gotta learn to talk to the girl before Friday." Dean said with a laugh. "Maybe she'll take her break with us."

"Here's hoping." He said then smiled up at her as she brought over their food. "Thanks." He thought a moment. "How late do you work tonight?"

"I'm on until six, I'm just covering part of a shift for someone." Kayla said.

"The important question is do you drive?" Dean asked with a grin.

"Um...yeah...why?" She asked.

"Because I drove here, and I might have to ditch him to go check on mylittle brother." Dean said.

"Yeah, I left my car back at the school." He said, not wanting to give her the impression he was the friend always in need of a lift from someone else.

"Oh sure, that's no problem." Kayla said with a smile, and Dean shot Brad a grin at that.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that." He told her. "Besides then you can show me where to pick you up on Friday."

Dean looked at his watch. "Crap, I gotta go." Dean said. "I'm late and my dad will kill me, and you'll have to take Sammy out on his date." He said with a chuckle as he laid down the money for his share of the food and tip. "See you later." Dean said, more than happy to leave the new couple to their own endeavors and go check up on his brother and father.

DFTR-DFTR-DFTR

Sam had finished his homework in record time, and had gone in search of his father once more, finding him in the gym. He still worried about John. It had been great having their heart to heart earlier, and going to watch Dean tryout for the play. It had felt normal.

But if there was one thing that Sam knew about his father and brother, normal was alien to them, and if either of them appeared to be striving for normal... they were either hiding something... or ... they were trying to protect Sam. Given the current circumstances, he doubted it had anything to do with protection at this stage of the game.

"Hey Dad." He said entering the gymnasium.

"Hey, Sammy." John said as he rolled up another mat to store away for the day. Today was a nice normal day in the scheme of things. Mary would have been proud, he was sure.

"You seem to like this job." He said as he started to help his dad. It was an old habit. One of the reasons the family worked as well as it did. Dean and Sam currently both lacked the typical lazy teenager gene.

"It's not bad." John agreed. "Could have been a lot worse. Plus you two boys seem to be settling in okay."

"Yeah. I guess. It's a new school. " He shrugged. "Dean is off with friends tonight so that's a good sign." He figured any bit of normal Dean could have was good. "We get to see more of you, and Dean isn't always figuring I need walked home from school still." He laughed at the last. "I figure when I'm a senior, he will still be showing up to pick me up from school."

"It's a good compromise." John said with a laugh. "Boarding school. Hard to walk you home from that, right? And it's good to see you boys doing normal things for once." Something they rarely got to do because of how he chose to live their lives.

"Yeah. leave it to Winchesters to have to live at a military academy to fit in and be normal." He said with a laugh. "It's good to see more of you too."

"It's good to be able to be around more." John said with a sigh. He didn't like leaving his kids as often as he did. Every time he did, he drove away with a sense of failure and guilt.

"Yeah... I suppose there could be worse things than finishing out the year here after all." Sam said. "Besides, then I would have all summer to grow out enough hair to hide my ears."

That made John laugh, a real laugh. "And here I've been worried that Dean was too centered on his appearance." He said with a grin. "Your hair is fine, and your ears are fine, Sam."

"My ears are twice the size of normal people ears. I look like the kid on the cover of Mad magazine. And while everyone here is fine with Dumbo ears cause they have no room to talk, out there... away from the military influence... Dumbo ears are not a sign of fitting in."

John chuckled and shook his head. "You're in an awkward phase. It'll pass. I promise. The rest of your head will grow into your ears, and the rest of your body will grow into your head. When I was your age, I had Dumbo ears, and legs like twigs, and arms way too long. Believe me, I know what you're going through. But it does pass."

Sam laughed at that, that was something he had never really thought about with his dad. "I have more legs and ears than anything else." He said with a grin.

"You're probably going to be tall." John said with certainty. Sam was already sprouting like a weed. Last year he'd been a chubby preadolscent. He was 'growing into his weight' as the saying went.

"Either tall or deformed. Hoping for tall. You're tall, it makes sense." Sam said with a nod as he put away the last of the mats.

John chuckled. "Your mother wasn't. Not overly so." He said. Not that Sam knew his mother. And Dean's memories of her height weren't valid, since they were from a four year old's perspective. "I think Dean's going to get a bit above six feet tall, that's a good height."

"Definitely not short,. He used to get teased about being short when we were little." Sam said. "Gotta say they have stealth bullies around here or they have better things to be doing with their time at the moment. Keep expecting 'em around the next corner."

"This isn't like every other school." John said. "It's a military boarding school. There'sa whole other behavior. They know they're being watched when they least expect it. If they decide to bully you or your brother, they'll definitely be stealth about it."

"Which means they will be worse when they do finally get around to it. Cause, you know, some how it's our fault they don't get to do it in the open like the public school bullies."

"Don't worry so much. It might end up being like the prank war you and your brother are masters at." John said. And there was nothing like getting caught in the middle of aWinchester prank war, especially if you were a parent. You weren't supposed to laugh while yelling at your kids!

Sam chuckled. "I think Dean and I could win a prank war against anyone if we teamed up." Sam said with a grin.

"You definitely would." John said. "So I say they should bring it on. It'll be fun to watch, even if I do it with a disapproving glare."

"That's only if you find proof of who did it after all." Sam said with a shrug. "When 'just me and Dean, it's pretty safe bet who is doing what to whom... not even a chance of hiding it."

"I'm your father. I think I'll have a pretty good idea." John said. "Don't worry, I'll feign innocence if questioned." Nearly like a secret conspiracy, and weirdly enough, that was normal behavior. Something he had missed most of the time.

Sam smiled. "Did you get anything to eat?" He asked, having not seen his father or brother in the mess hall that evening.

"Um...I think I ate at lunch." John said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go see what we can scrounge up."

Sam smiled and let his dad lead the way. It was like having a real family for a while and Sam wasnt going to let that go easily. Who knew what would happen when they left there?

Dinner was over, but as faculty, John could get into the kitchen. So he opened it up and started pulling out food to make. "So what do you feel like?" He asked his youngest.

He shrugged. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup is always a winner but I am betting there is no such thing as a small can of tomato soup around here."

John laughed. "Who cares? The tuition they charge for this place lately, they can afford another can of soup." He said as he found the cheese, bread, and supersized can of tomato soup.

Sam got out the milk, because Dean always made it cream of tomato and that's the way Sam liked it best. Hard to say at this point if the habit started because Sam liked it best that way or if he liked it best because that was how Dean made it. "How long did you go to school here? Some of the kids here are pretty young."

"Just high school." John said. "My dad thought I needed a bit of discipline in my life, and applied for a scholarship, I got it, and off I went. It was good for me though. I learned a lot here, a lot that served me well later, and still does now."

Sam nodded. "It's sure made it easier on Dean and I here. I'm trying out for the football team tomorrow after class, and then have to run over to the shooting range for marksmanship trials. It's kinda weird doing all that at school. Usually I am meeting you and Dean out of town somewhere for that sort of thing."

"Makes it a lot easier for me." John said with a chuckle. "Now I don't have to find those out of the way places." He had no fear about his sons in the marksmenship trials. Given their education at his hands, they'd breeze through that just as easily as they did the obstacle course.

"Yeah, I guess it does. And someone else gets to do the teaching this time." He took his seat at the table. "Are any of the teachers the same here as when you were in school?" It hadn't been that long ago after all.

John finished making the soup and sandwiches and came to the table himself. "The math teacher is, and he's just as cranky as he ever was." John said with a chuckle. "The librarian is the same, wife of the provost when I was in school. He's dead now, of course, but they let her keep her post."

Sam made a mental note to talk to her the following day during his free period. Librarians and old ladies liked Sam. Might as well work it to his favor for a change. "Yeah, the math teacher really needs to retire before he gives himself a stroke or something. That vein gets going on his forehead and I am sure it's gonna blow."

John laughed. "That vein's been going since I was in high school. He's probably going to outlive us all." He commented.

"That's scary. Sounds like one of those B movies I used to turn on when Dean finally went to sleep at night. Math teacher zombies from hell or something. Cause... that man is old." Sam said as he picked up one of the cheese sandwiches and dipped the corner into his tomato soup.

John laughed. "Don't let your brother know he fell asleep on you." He said with a chuckle. "He'll never sleep again. And he'll need to be rested for his dramatic debut." He said with a grin, though he was surprised how well Dean had held his own with such a unique choice and no preparation.

"Yeah no kidding." Sam said. "He's kinda funny that way. I think the only reason he got me a date was so that he didn't have to leave me at home." He added with a laugh.

John felt more than a little stab of guilt at that. Was he making his oldest grow up too fast to take care of his youngest? He probably was, and there really wasn't anything he could about that.

"Dad? You okay?" He asked again, catching that look in his father's eyes again. The one that had him worried the day before.

"Yeah, Sammy, I'm fine." John said. "Just tired. This teaching thing is a lot more tiring than I thought it woul dbe." He said. Sounded good.

Sam had never known his father to tire easily. The man was a juggernaught. He never slowed down no matter how tired he was, no matter how hurt he was. "Yeah, okay, Dad. Guess hunting at night and getting up before dawn the next day would be pretty exhausting." He hoped that was all it was but he really didn't believe it.

John chuckled. "It eventually wears on you." He said as he cleaned up their meal. "Okay, let's get you in the dorms before lights out."

Sam nodded. "Okay." He said. "Maybe you should get some rest too, Dad. We got a lot done and tomorrow I'm gonna hit the library in town after school so we'll get more information soon."

"Taking your brother?" John asked. He was still leery on letting Sam out and about unsupervised.

"Dad... When Dean was my age, he was watching over me all the time. I think I can manage to go to the library on my own. I'm a freshman in highschool now."

"Dean is Dean and you're Sam." John said. "Fine, I'll go with you. Final offer."

"What? I'm some sort of irresponsible idiot or something? " Sam asked sharply, losing a lot of the feeling of connection he had started feeling with his father. "Forget it. I'm probably too irresponsible or stupid to do the research in the first place. Do it yourself." He said and turned to storm away.

"Sam!" John said, getting up. "Samuel, I'm talking to you!" He said, though it wasn't hard to catch up to Sam. "What's gotten into you now?" He always felt like he was treading on a floor of fragile glass with Sam. No matter what he said, it always ended up being wrong.

"Dean at 13 was responsible enough to watch over a 9 year old for days on end all by himself but I'm not responsible enough to go to the library by myself. What ever Dad. I get it. I won't ever be as good as Dean. But I'm not an idiot and I'm not a little boy anymore."

"You're my son and I'm your father!" John shot back. "That puts me in charge, and for once I would like to be able to do that without you automatically falling back on some adolescent inferiority complex that's not based in reality. You're smarter than that!"

"Then what the hell reality is it that makes me the one that can't tie his own shoes in your eyes?" Sam countered. "The reality is that you don't trust me to go on my own. What ever your reasoning is... obviously you aren't sharing."

"And I don't have to!" John snapped. "I'm your father. That's enough. Now if you want to go to the damn library, meet me after your last class."

"And you wonder where I get the inferiority complex. No I don't want to go to the library. I don't want to be a hunter. That's your hang up. Not mine. You can't have it both ways, Dad. You can't put me in this place where I could wind up being the next suicide and then tell me I'm not capable of taking care of myself. Make up your mind."

"You're not going to be the next suicide. You're smarter than that. You're supposed to watch the other kids and see if anyone is being affected by any of it. Need me to explain your job anymore?"

"Suicide has nothing to do with intelligence." Sam said indignantly, having done his share of research the year previous. "In fact amongst teenagers, it's more common amongst the more intelligent kids. Besides... we're talking about supernaturally influenced kids. All bets go out the window. What I need is for you to stop treating me like I'm a little kid."

"Then you need to stop acting like a little kid." John said. "Do your research, but you're not going off alone. End of discussion."

"What ever Dad." Sam said as he entered his room and managed some how to slam the door without a sound.

"Dude." Dean said from his desk where he was attempting to do some homework. He'd been attempting all night, actually, once he got back from the diner. "What's wrong now?"

"You'd just take his side." Sam said as he picked up his own books and got onto the bed to work on his own home work.

"Whatever." Dean said. "Hey, Sam...got a big favor to ask. See, I kinda want to go out and about, but after Dad finds out I took his car keys and dumped all the booze...I'm definitely going to be grounded. Think I can drop you off at the library, and pretend to stay with you?" He asked, honestly having no idea what John and Sam had argued about (this time).

Sam groaned. "Yeah okay... if Dad doesn't insist on going along with me anyway. The man thinks I'm 5 or something."

"Well, that's Dad's hang up." Dean said. "I know you're not. I also know he won't let me go anywhere unless it's for his benefit or watching you...so this works on both fronts...right? I mean, you said before you wanted to go to the library..." Was he taking advantage of Sam? Because Sam could blow the whole thing out of the water and get Dean in even deeper trouble. Dean was just stir crazy (already) was all.

"Yeah what ever." Sam said a little sullenly. "We had been talking so well earlier - then all the sudden he decides I can't be trusted on my own."

He understood that Sam was thirteen. He remembered thirteen, it hadn't been all that fun. But dammit, he was seventeen, nearly eighteen, and he was sick of getting pulled between Sam and Dad all the time. Or breaking them up all the other times. So he closed his book and climbed up on the bunk above Sam. "Whatever. You don't want to go, you don't want to go."

"Forget I said anything." Sam said. It hurt that he couldn't even talk to his brother about these things. It always pissed Dean off, which only served to make Sam feel even more like a stranger in his own family. "Yeah I will cover for you. Might as well make the best of it."

"Forget it." Dean said as he squirmed to find a comfortable spot on the bed. Sam wanted to mope about being treated like a kid. Sometimes Dean wished he was treated like a kid. But no, while Sam was off being treated like a kid, Dean was detoxing his father's room and taking the keys. And he was supposed to commiserate about being treated like a kid? He wished he could, he really did.

"Fine, whatever." Sam sighed and rolled over to face the wall. Maybe his dad and Dean should leave him here. Maybe he could make himself fit into a boarding school where he obviously couldn't in his own family.

Dean grumbled to himself. He didn't sleep much that night. And when they came to wake them up in the morning, he pushed past the guy with the trash can lids. "Whatever dude, shut up." He said as he made his way to the showers.

Sam moved on auto pilot to get ready for classes, doing his best to avoid both his father and brother at breakfast, choosing instead to sit next to his newfound friend from typing class "Hey." He said a glummly.

"Well you look all happy this morning." He said. "This is why I'm glad sometimes my parents are in Florida, and my sister is across town at the girls' school."

"Don't you miss having her around?" Sam asked, thinking that he would miss Dean more than anything when they finally were both grown and getting on with their lives. He had no doubt Dean would be a hunter like their father. But Sam wanted nothing to do with hunting. Wanted nothing to do with the demons and monsters that had and still were destroying his family.

Rob shrugged. "Nah. I have an older brother, he was here before. Graduated last year. Now he's off at college, I don't know, we're just not that close."

"Dad and I aren't close at all. Sometimes it's like... I don't know... like I'm living with a total stranger. And with Dean it depends on the day of the week whether he is my best friend or someone that is stuck with me."

Rob laughed. "Did you miss that stupid health class that I had to take last year?" He said with a grin. "When the adolescent male goes through puberty, starting around the age of 12, his body goes through immense changes up until the age of 21, at least." He said, sounding like he was quoting an instructional video, which he was. "During this time, it can seem like living with a complete stranger, the adolescent male is prone to sudden mood changes and moodiness. It is best just to be patient, and not react like the adolescent male is a rabid animal."

"Yeah well, Dean gets to be his age at least. They both treat me like I'm 8 or something. It makes me crazy. There are days that I really just want to be anywhere that they aren't."

"Who are you kidding? You worship your brother." Rob said, then shrugged. "I worship mine. Only difference is, I get to do it from afar. Other than holidays, don't think I've been actually in the same room with him for years. Oh we do the email and letters and stuff like that, but it's not the same."

"I know." He said with a sigh. "It's what makes it so hard. I know they care about me... I'm not that much of a bone head. I just... don't fit in. I'm not who or what they want me to be or even what they think I am. Ya know?"

"You know what I think? You need to chill. Seriously." Rob said. "You're barely in high school. You gotta relax, or you're going to end up like the science club kid from last year. His parents had him on track to be Nobel winner by the time he was 25."

How did you chill when your father expected you to be a hunter one minute and practically in diapers the next? He wasn't good at pretending all the time. He needed to be himself some of the time. But himself wasn't acceptable. "My dad would probably be happy if I had a C average. It's not that. ... school used to be where I felt normal."

"Well this school isn't normal." Rob said with a chuckle. "Look around, we're all in uniforms with buzzcuts. And none of us should have buzzcuts. I didn't know how small my head was compared to my neck until I got this thing." He said, running a hand over his hair.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah, unfortunately I knew how big my ears are but that didn't make any difference. Last time I had this hair cut, the other kids were calling me Dumbo." He said quietly so only Rob could hear.

Rob shrugged. "Last year I was called Pinhead." He said, then he grinned. "Then I stomped a sophomore who thought he could push around an eighth grader, and I haven't heard it since."

"Yeah. Don't blame them." He said with a grin. "I think around here, there is just an excess of dumbo ears so no one wants to start that particular finger pointing."

"Exactly. So you got off easy." Rob said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I didn't start here a couple of years ago when my legs were too long for the rest of me." He said with a genuine laugh.

Rob laughed. "That was probably funny." He said.

Dean scarfed down breakfast. He was well aware his brother was avoiding him, so he ate it before he was even fully out of the line, disposed of his tray and left the cafeteria. Now he just had to avoid his father as he went outside the auditorium for the posting of the cast list. He personally didn't really care, but he said he'd meet Brad there, so he was meeting Brad there, wondering if John had noticed that his room had been carefully gone through.

Brad was already there looking over the list. "Hey man, don't know if I should congratulate you or not." He said and showed Dean the list. "Me... I'm playing Skye Masterson. Should be a blast. "

Dean looked at the list. "Remember, I'm a complete new kid on this thing." He said with a chuckle. "What does understudy for Nathan Detroit mean? Is that good or bad? Do I actually have to go on stage?"

"So long as the guy who is playing Nathan Detroit is able to go on stage, you don't have to, but you have to learn the part just like he does, because if he trips over his big feet and falls of the stage and breaks his leg or something, you have to go on instead of him."

"Okay, note to self. Wrap that guy in bubble wrap." Dean said witha chuckle. "Well, that's good. I get credit without actually having to do something. Can't beat that. So your mom should be over the moon when you tell her."

"Yeah. Mom will. Dad'll have kittens but I guess it's inevitable since I'm not gonna go into the service either." He said with a faint grin. Or was it a grimace.

Dean laughed. "I better not hear jack about it from my dad. Considering that he signed me up for this damn thing in the first place!" Dean pointed out. Given their lifestyle, he was sure John didn't have aspirations of either of his sons joining the Corp when they were adults. Just as well too...Dean didn't deal well with authority in general, and only his father in specifics.

Brad laughed. "Come on, we're gonna be late for first bell." He said. "And don't worry. It's great fun to bait fathers. Well it is from a distance. Not sure I would want to bait mine if he were on hand to dish out the push ups. Would you believe I did my first push up at 4?"

Dean laughed hard at that. "Actually, I would." Dean said. Push ups at four. Extreme outdoor camping at eight. Modifying fire arms at twelve. Participated in his first exorcism at nine, killed his first 'evil son of a bitch' on his own at fourteen. Push ups at four? He could completely believe that.

"Guess you got the same problem I do... a Marine for a father." Brad said with a grin. "Well it isn't all bad. I mean...he could have been regular army or something."

"Or, dude, Coast Guard." Dean said with a chuckle as they headed toward their class. He saw his father out of the corner of his eye, and rushed into the room, sliding into the seat. "So these rehearsals, the girls get to come, right?"

"Yeah, the girls get to come." He said with a grin. "That's why so many guys sign up for drama once they hit puberty."

"Yeah, I can see why." Being sentenced to an all boys school after all. That had to be wearing after a while. It was already nearly driving him nuts. "So, dude, the rest of those guys are seriously going to be hating on you, you know." Dean didn't care. He didn't want ANY part, really.

"They'll get over it. They did last year. Started spreading rumors I was gay, until I pounded one of 'em." Brad said with a shrug.

Dean laughed. "Oh god, gay rumors. Love it." Dean said. "I haven't been in a fight since the last school, so hopefully someone will call me gay."

"It's not that hard to get in a fight around here. Trust me."

The teacher cleared his throat as the bell rang and Brad grinned at Dean a moment then turned to face the front of the class as was expected.

Dean grinned back, and flashed his grin at the teacher as he paid minimal attention throughout the class. Enough to be able to pass a test, he guessed, but not much more than that. He called Sam the brainchild of the family, but Dean knew he wasn't dumb. He just lacked the ability to pay attention to things he wasn't interested in. If they had stayed in one place long enough, he was convinced he would have been put on Ritalin a long time ago.

The first half of the day passed quickly and soon both brothers found themselves staring at one another in the lunch line. "Hey." Sam said quietly.

"Hey." Dean said. "Look, you want to bitch about Dad, fine, I'll let you. I'll stare blankly at the ceiling, but I'll let you." He just wasn't up to it last night. He'd spent a few hours being a normal teenager, something that so rarely happened, that getting stuck between his father and his brother again felt like someone was holding his head under freezing cold water.

"You know... sometimes... most of the time... I don't want you to take sides. I just want you to be my brother... to let me bitch and maybe be a little supportive. It'snot about betraying Dad you know... it really isn't." Sam said looking down at his feet.

"And sometimes, on the rare times, when I get to be a normal kid, for a bit after I like to pretend I'm still a normal kid." Dean said, shaking his head.

"What? You don't think normal kids have to listen to their little brothers complain about their fathers? Get real, it's probably the one normal thing out there we consistantly have. But what the hell, sorry I interfered in your chance to be normal. You know what... find me someone else to talk to about all those things that bug me and I won't bother you with it ... oh wait... I can't. Because it's all a big secret. Guess that means I don't get to talk to anyone, doesn't it?"

Now Dean felt guilty, and his foot tapped a bit at that. "I said I'd listen! What do you want from me, Sam? Come on, I always listen. One night that I just don't want to, one single night since you were born, and suddenly I'm the bad, uncaring, insenstive one?"

"You said you would stare blankly at the ceiling and let me. That's not listening Dean. That's ignoring me while I talk. Look, I get it. Okay. I do. Dad is your hero, he's pretty high on my list too, believe it or not. I just ... never mind. It doesn't matter."

"No, you don't get it." Dean shot back. "Look, you talk, I listen,I try to think of solutions. Then you get mad, and Dad gets mad, and I'm already ducking him." He dug into his pocket and pulled out their father's keys. "You know how many bottles I emptied last night?" He asked in a hushed whispered. "You don't want to know. You don't want to know how many empty ones I found. I hate changing schools. There, I said it. I can do it, but I hate it. And if Dad gets fired because he's drinking, we'll have to change, this time with no back up plan, because I don't think he has one. He's drinking, I don't know why. So with all that on my mind, you want me to listen to you bitch because Dad treats you like a toddler. Fine, whatever. I'll listen. If it will make everyone happy, I'll listen and be able to repeat every word you say. Of course, then I'll add my own commentary to it, which will just piss you off. Then I'll end up having the same conversation with Dad, because I hate it when you're pissed off, which will just piss him off, but hey, then you'll be able to have something in common, because you'll both be pissed at me." He said with a shrug, shoving the keys back in his pocket.

No one, except Dean, knew how heavy the weight on his shoulders was. The sad thing, really, was that he was used to it. Came to expect it. And never expected it to go away, at least not anytime soon. Possibly not even while he was alive.

"Dean..." Sam said. "I don't expect you to get between me and Dad... you don't have to make things right for us. You don't have to do that. If he is mad at me about something, there isn't anything you can do. I know that."

"Fine. Look, I offered to let you talk out your frustrations so we both stay sane. You're just picky." Dean said with a bit of a grin. Dean sighed. "Yeah, well, I'll try to figure out a way anyway." Because it was horrible to have your entire family at each other's throats. And Sam and their father...they were his entire family.

"Yeah well, I can't stop you I guess but... that isn't what I am after when I try and talk to you about stuff, Dean. I just want to talk out the frustration is all."

"Then does it make a difference if I'm staring at the ceiling? Because otherwise I'll try to come up with solutions." He pointed out.

"Because then it doesn't feel like ... never mind. It's okay. I'm sorry." Sam said. "Come on... let's get something to eat."

"Now you're speaking my language." Dean said with a laugh as they grabbed trays. "So I'm an understudy. Which means I get to keep an eye on the drama club without actually having to go up on stage. And that's all right by me."

"I thought you were pretty good. But I don't blame you for not wanting to be up there. " He was glad to let the subject drop. Nothing hadchanged but at least he had said something. "Which part are you understudying?"

Dean shrugged. "Nathan Detroit. So I guess that's okay." He could tell a big blow up between Sam and their dad was right around the corner. He hated that. He hated that they came, and he hated that he could tell when they were coming.

"Could be worse, you could be playing the cop. or understudying the cop or what ever. That would really be contrary to the Winchester family ideal." He said with a laugh.

"There's a cop in it?" Dean asked. "Wow. Well, that sucks. Have to find out who's playing him, see if I like him or not. If not, well, then it is the Winchester ideal to give them hell."

"Yeah... there is. When you take me to the library tonight I'll see if it's on the list of movies to borrow." Sam said.

Dean shook his head. "I'm going to watch a musical." Dean said. "My life as I know it is over."

"Dude, if the other guy gets the flu or something you are going to be IN a musical." Sam teased.

"Dude, don't remind me." Dean said with a scowl. "This is going to suck. I've met the guy. Don't really like him. Yet it is my personal mission to make sure he stays healthy and uninjured."

"Good luck with that." Sam said as he got his tray of food. "For all we know, he wants out of the part as much as you don't want into it."

"Well, too bad, he had it first." Dean said with a laugh. "So he can keep it. Besides, I'm just there to watch the girls. I mean the drama club. And look for suicidal behavior."

Sam laughed. "Yeah... the drama club." He said shaking his head. "Turns out the librarian here at the school was the same librarian as when Dad went here. She wasmarried to the head master back then."

"Wow." Dean said with a laugh. "Well, that's your gig. Librarians love you. You also love them. It's one big lovefest. But if you score cookies, save one for me."

"Hey if I do all the work why should I share the score?" Sam asked with a grin.

"Because I'm older and I said so." Dean said with a laugh. "Because every time I go into the library, they start checking the book covers for grafitti." He'd never actually done that, but for some odd reason they expected him to.

"Weird. I'll think about it." He said. "I'll check it out tomorrow during free period. Tonight the big library though."

"Am I takingyou or are you going with Dad?" Dean said. Would work if he took Sam. Could get off the grounds for a bit.

"Heh...I'm going with you. I want to avoid Dad for a while. I really did try getting along with him, Dean. I did."

Dean sighed. "I know." He said. "Dad's just...he's Dad." There wasn't really any other way to describe it.

"Yeah... I know... It'll work out. It always does. He's just depressed. Maybe it's this place. Too structured for him these days or something."

"You've got a point. It might not be all he remembered it was, that whole military life." Dean said with a shrug as he sat down and started to eat. "So right after last period we'll go, how's that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." Sam said. "Might want to do that tonight for sure, don't know when you are going to have to start rehearsals."

"Dude, that's starting to sound like a swear word." Dean said. "I've had to endure class with idiots who are excited about it. Whatever. I'll just, I don't know, read a book or something."

Sam laughed. "If I had your luck, I would start studying the part hard core. You'll wind up on stage at least once."

"Dude, no." Dean said, horrified at the thought. It was one thing to be the center of attention, quite another to be on stage. "Think I might get sick and let my understudy handle it. I'm sure they'd find one if they had to. Maybe you should learn the part."

Sam laughed. "Dean... I'm the science geek. Not in drama remember. And besides you are the understudy. Understudies don't get understudies. "

"Well they should." Dean grumbled. "It's completely unfair. I mean, there are kids who really wanted a part that didn't get one, and I got stuck with one because my dad made me try out so I could be on the scene for anything weird that might happen."

"You'll survive it I promise." Sam said with a laugh. "It won't kill you. You might even like it." He said repeating words he heard every time he was stuck with something he didn't want to do.

Dean scowled. "Sam, we're not talking about carrots at dinner time." He said. "We're talking about a potentially humiliating experience from which I might not ever recover."

"Like shaving my head, trying out for football, band... god, remember when he tried to get me to play the trumpet?"

Dean laughed. "Oh yeah. And the band teacher wrote a polite note home that perhaps you should take up another hobby." Dean said. Well, it was true. Sam had been unteachable at the trumpet.

"And Dad wrote a polite note back telling him that I wasnt there to take up a hobby I was there to learn music and he was there to teach it. Oh yeah... that was a great year. So cheer up. You can't be any worse at acting than I am at trumpet."

"I'm awesome at acting." Dean said. It would be just like pulling a con pretty much, right? "It's the singing. And dancing." He said, making a face of distaste. "That's what I'm worried about."

"Well apparently you sang well enough to get the part." Sam pointed out. "So you will be fine. Just learn the part and pray a lot that the other guy doesn't get sick. "

"Unless he's dead, he'll be on that stage. And maybe even if he's dead, I'll figure out something." Dean said with a chuckle. "Why should a little cold or small pox deprive him of the limelight? Honestly, I'm looking after his best interests."

"With this family's luck... learn the part." Sam said. "And with that I have to get to class. Dad hates it when I miss his class." Sam rolled his eyes. "Tomorrow I get to try out for the foot ball team. Oh Joy of Joys."

"Could be worse. You could be learning to dance on stage." Dean said with a scowl. "Yeah, I should make a class or two. Let me know what kind of mood he's in so I know whether to avoid him."

"Dean... I don't think he has noticed anything... which to be honest scares the hell out of me."

Dean looked at surprise while gathering up his tray. Their dad not notice? The guy who had an eagle's eye for the smallest detail? "Oh man." He said. "Yeah, now I'm worried."

"Something is going on with him... you don't think..." Sam didn't want to think that maybe their father was the first victim this year for what ever it was that was driving people to suicide.

Dean's jaw clenched and he looked away. "No, of course not." He said. Because it was what Sam wanted and needed to hear. "We'll keep an eye on him, everything will be fine, okay? I'll handle it."

Sam nodded. "I've been trying but... Well... he and I just seem to always make each other worse." He was glad that Dean would look after their father. Dean was the one he trusted to take care of them all. It wasn't fair, but it was how things were.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Dean said. And you too he added silently. "It'll be fine, Sam. We know what we're looking for, and since you were all into suicide research last year, you can help."

Sam nodded ."Okay. Yeah... we'll make sure Dad is okay... " Sam frowned, and looked at the clock again. "I gotta get to class. Wanna get there a little early to see how he is."

"Yeah good luck with that." Dean said. His father could be as transparent as a brick wall when he wanted to be. And Dean would lay money on this being one of those times that he wanted to be.

Sam ran to the gymnasium, to find his father. They hadn't parted on the best of terms the night before. They hadn't gotten along well since Sam had found out the truth about the world around them, but he still loved his dad and part of him wanted to have a normal relationship with him, but the truth was that John had lied to him about some pretty major stuff for years and Sam wasn't sure he could trust him to tell him what was going on most of the time.

John nodded to Sam as he joined the line up in the class. He looked even more tired, his eyes one step away from being blood shot. But his shoulders were straight, though whether that was natural or by pure force of will was debateable. He knew Sam feltbad about their argument, so did he. There was so much Sam didn't know, that John couldn't tell him. Because John didn't know the whole story yet.

Sam paid close attention to his father through out the class, and once again lagged back when the others went on to their next class. It was convenient to have a free period after PE.

John looked at Sam hanging behind and sighed as he started to pick up and set up for the next class. Dragging mats back into the storage room and bringing out the basketballs. "What is it, Sam?" He asked, sounding more tired than sharp.

"Just wanted to see you today is all." Sam said as he started to help his dad with the mats. "You look tired... did you get any sleep last night?"

"I got enough." John said. All his equipment, as ramshod as it was, wasn't picking up anything. It should have been picking up something. And he was mad beyond belief at Dean. That was the only option for where the keys to his truck went.

"I'm sorry we fought last night. I just... it gets to me some times. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, really."

"Sam, I'm fine. I've got a thicker skin than you think." John said. "But apology accepted. And I'm not changing my mind. Because you and your brother are different, in what you can handle."

"Yeah I obviously can't handle the library. Dangerous place with all those books and librarians. I hear they're hella evil." Sam said rolling his eyes "Worse than the hunts you drag me along for. So if I hadn't already gotten Dean to agree to take me I would bow out entirely, trembling in fear." He said in a bland tone that indicated exactly where his father could put his low opinion of him. "So since the apology was accepted and I have once more been told I am lacking, I'm gonna go to class." Not that he had one, he was on his free hour. But right then he was wishing he hadnt apologized in the first place. "Later." He said turning on his heel to leave.

"Sam!" John called after him. "Samuel! You do not take that tone with me. I am your father and I am entitled to more respect than that."

"Sorry Dad, I must be too stupid to know that. After all, I cantdeal with things as well asDean does." Sam grumbled. "Guess that includes you."

"Why do you feel the need to pick a fight with me every single day? And question my authority? And my decisions?" John demanded. "What's gotten into you?" He didn't remember Dean being like this.

Sam turned back to face his father. "Why do you feel the need to point out that you think I am irresponsible and empty headed? Why else wouldn't I be able to handle things as well as a freaking 9 year old? You remember that, right? Me... Dean... alone... hotel rooms... he was 9 and I was 5. Yeah... you had more faith in Dean at 9 than you do in me now. And you point it out every chance you get. THAT is why I challenge you. Because I am sick of feeling like the retarded brat you never wanted in the first place. "

John's jaw twitched. Dangerously twitched. His teeth grinding made almost an audible sound to Sam across the room. "Watch your tone." He said in a low voice. "You are the child, I am the adult, that is the only thing you need to know."

"That's the problem Dad... I already know too much. " Sam said' "And you can't make me unlearn it. You can't make me respect you when you aren't around enough for me to earn it. You don't know me. You don't even want to. Hell you don't even know Dean, and he worships the ground you walk on. When I found out the truth... when I dug out your book and found out the truth... he told me our Dad was like a super hero- out fighting the bad guys. Better than James Bond he said. I think he still believes it. All I knew was that you had lied to me my whole life. You still do. You lie to me and you try and make me feel stupid and useless. Being an adult doesn't change that. Doesn't make it right. No matter how much you try and convince me it does."

"What do you want me to do, Sam? Not do my damn job?" John said. "I thought you were old enough to accept that along with this responsibility comes sacrifice. It stinks, but we all have to do it."

"How can you say that when not 5 minutes ago you were saying I'm not responsible enough to go to the library on my own? I don't know what you expect of me." Sam said in exasperation. "I can handle that you do the job. I can handle that you are never around. I can't handle what you think of me. I'm sick of the double standards. I'm a little kid when it suits you, and a soldier in your war when it suits you. I'm old enough to kill and die but I'm not old enough to act like a normal 14 year old. Screw that. Make up your mind."

"Watch your tone." John growled again. "I made my decision, you're the one who has to have his way or he's going to throwa childish temper tantrum. That's hardly going to convince me that you're mature enough to cut your own meat, never mind go out alone."

Dean watched fora few moments from the door way. "Okay, that's enough. Both of you." He said. "I'm taking Sam to the library, for that I need gas money. Sam will do his research. You'll do yours. And you two will stopyelling at each other for five minutes."

Sam turned on his heel and walked out. He was on the verge of tears and that was the last thing he wanted his father or brother to see. Dean would think less of him and it would just give his father more amunition. He swore the man hated him.

Every time they started to get along, it got worse the next day, as if there was some cosmic force out there trying to balance the scales back out again. Hell, everything John had said to him before was probably another lie anyway.He probably did hate him for Mary's death. It was the only thing that made sense.

"I'll meet you at the car." He said, for Dean's benefit.

Dean nodded and waited until Sam was gone. "Why do you do that?" Dean asked softly, just in case Sam was hanging around. "He's having a tough enough time as it is, new school, new routine, new friends, being thirteen..."

"He won't take no for an answer." John said. "Argues with me at every turn. I'm not going to put up with that from either of you."

"Fine." Dean said, backing down as he usually did where John was concerned. Probably why he pushed every limit in every other area of his life. "I'll watch after Sam, no worries."

"you do that. He isnt thinking clearly. Starting to wonder if the place isnt starting to effect him. One of the early stages of that sort of depression is anger. And Sam has alot of it. "

He couldn't believe he'd been signed up for this. This was awful. And he was never forgiving his dad for that.

"Just sign me up for props or something." Dean had mumbled, only to be informed that that was a different club. And this club was for the ahc-teurs or some bullshit. So he slouched in his seat when auditions were announced...and everyone had to audition.

He was never forgiving his dad for this one.

Guys and Dolls. He'd never even HEARD of that one. Not that he'd heard of a lot of musicals, but that was beyond the point. This was going to suck big hairy rocks. Then cough up a hair ball. Of that he was certain.

Of course, Dean didn't know any broadway songs. Or any musical songs. In fact, when push came to shove and he was put on the spot, he only could remember a couple of songs when his mind completely blanked and he hoped the school would be overtaken by rabid lunch aides hopped up on steroids and caffeine before he got to his turn.

John couldn't resist. He had to watch. This was his boy after all. Guys and Dolls... could be a lot worse in the land of musicals. Sinatra and Brando after all. He slipped in with Sam into the balcony and they sat in the back in the shadows.

"Winchester, you're up." Said the instructor.

Dean got up from his seat and headed out to the stage, looking for all the world like a man walking his last few feet before entering the gas chamber. The school wasn't taken over by Nazis, or even a good poltergeist. "You know, I'm not feeling well..." He started

"Either today or tomorrow." The instructor said as he looked over his list. Dean gave a heavy sigh as the piano player looked at him.

"Trust me, you don't know it." He grumbled. Not about to use anything along the lines of anything the others had used, he blanked his mind. And imagined himself driving down the highway, windows down, stereo blaring. He stared straight ahead at the door at the back of the auditorium and could nearly feel the steering wheel vibrate underneath his hands. "So close no matter how far. Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are. And nothing else matters."

Okay, so it wasn't musical theater. But it was one of his favorite songs by one of his favorite bands, and he was able to pretend he was somewhere else.

The instructor raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected him to come up with that of all things but it worked. The kid had potential if he grew into his voice. He would be a good Nathan Detroit. Maybe the understudy depended on how things went. "Alright, take your seat." He said.

Dean gratefully hopped off the stage and slouched far down in his seat. It was over. Which was good. Hey, he'd 'tried', right? Counted for something.

"What was that?" One of the kids next to him whispered. Dean looked at him unbelievingly.

"Excuse me?"

"What play was that from?"

"Dude are you serious?" Dean asked. What kind of freaks was his dad sticking him with? "You know what, never mind." Dean said, closing his eyes. "Obviously it's out of your league."

Halloran sat down next to him, chuckling softly. "Out of their league...right." He whispered. "You gotta forgive these guys. Most of them have been in private school all their lives."

"Dude, no excuse." Dean said with a chuckle of his own. "That's just down right blasphemy. Hopefully it was enough to convince that guy that he really doesn't want me part of his freaking play." He said with a shrug. "Dad 'talked' me into this."

"Dads have a way of doing that. That's my kid brother up there now. He gets off on this stuff. Makes me worry about him." He said with a chuckle.

"If he at least has heard of Metallica, he's ahead of some of the guys here." Dean said with a chuckle as the kid brother sang. Something from "The Sound of Music" which unfortunately Dean was able to recognize. They were stuck in more than one motel over an Easter holiday, and sometimes, that's all that was on TV. Kind of like "It's a Wonderful Life" at Christmas time.

"Guys and Dolls won't be so bad. It's about gamblers after all. Hey Sinatra and Brando were in it... yeah it's a musical but at least it's not completely girly."

Dean laughed. "So you're auditioning too, right?" He said with a grin. "After all, it's not so bad, and not so girly. Sinatra and Brando were in it, and they were guys that in their day definitely scored with anyone worth scoring with. Even if they did sing and dance."

"Well they sang and danced, no one said they did it well." He said. "Yeah, I'm stuck auditioning, too." Halleran said. "With any luck, we'll have limited time on stage."

"If there is any luck, we'll end up the guys that walk across the stage a couple of times, pretending we're a crowd." Dean said with a laugh. "So, the dolls in this play. I'm assuming that means girls. We don't have to play girls, do we?"

"Naw, they like to tease the newbies about that, but the girls' school puts on the play with us every year. The proceeds pay for the military ball and the summer ball they have over there."

"Then this won't be so bad." Dean said with a grin. "I came from a co-ed school, I'm in serious withdrawl, dude."

"It's the real reason to be in drama, man. I tell you they have to come over here to rehearse now dont they " Halleran said with a grin of his own. "Besides, I hear you already have a date lined up. Not a lot of withdrawl going on if you already have one lined up on the second day."

Dean chuckled. "Okay, point taken. But still." He said. "So what did you have all prepared for your audition? I didn't even know I had to audition." While it was obvious that some of these kids had been preparing all summer for it.

"Okay... you gotta understand.." He said, blushing. "My mother... has a doctorate in music. She found out we were doing musicals this year and went nuts over summer break. " He said, giving the lead in.

Dean did his best not to laugh. "Somehow I doubt Metallica is in her repetoire." He said, keeping a straight face. "So, let me guess from what I've heard here so far today. My Fair Lady? Camelot? Your brother did Sound of Music. Okay, I give up. Les Miserables?"

"Oh god no... " he said wrinkling his nose. "It sounds worse than it is... Jesus Christ superstar. Song called 'Heaven On Their Minds'. My mom drug us to see it in an offBroadwayrevival one Christmas break." He said rolling his eyes. "But hey, it's not all girly so it's good."

"True. I'll take your word for it. And if it is, I'll mock you." Dean said with a laugh. "So you've done this drama thing all the way? Know the kid that decided to shish ka bob himself last year?"

"Yeah I did. He was a senior last year. Didn't think for a minute he was the sort of guy that would do that. He had girls eating out of his hands, great parents as far as any of us could tell. I mean they actually showed up to visit, sent letters and stuff. He'd just gotten the letter that he was accepted into Annapolis."

"So seemed completely out of the blue." Dean said. And a gory way to go at that, gutting yourself. "Oh hey, you're up. Remember, don't be girly, or I will mock you, colonel or not."

"If you think this is girly, YOU can go live with my dad. He would love you." Halloran said as he got up and headed that way, handing over a tape to one of the other students to put into the PA system. "Sorry can't doit a capella." He said sheepishly and took his position in the middle of the stage, not bothering with a microphone.

A steady rock rift filled the room, a powerful background strangely fitting the voice that came from the young man on stage. A voice that betrayed his youth, yet the power that was currently buried within potential poured forth as he relaxed in the lyrics, the words of a pleading Judas.

"Listen Jesus, do you care for your race? Don't you see we must keep in our place? We are occupied. Have you forgotten how put down we are? I am frightened by the crowd. For we are getting much too loud. And they'll crush us if we go too far. If we go too far..."

Dean chuckled and looked at the drama kid next to him. "Dude, you're so toast. Think you've been demoted to chorus." He said as the kid grumbledto himself. Brad was good, even Dean could tell that. And he'd even admit it wasn't a girly song, a chance always taken with musicals.

The teacher stopped and listened, not bothering with his papers anymore. That was certainly a surprise. "Thank you." He said to Brad when he was done. Well, he'd found his Sky, that was for certain.

Brad went back to his seat, half expecting to be razzed as he went. He had gone a little over the top with the audition he knew but his parents would be coming to the play and even though there was nothing about a musical that would make his father proud, his mother would be disappointed if he didn't succeed.

Dean grinned at him as he returned to his seat. "Dude, that was worth it just to hear the grumbles from the drama geeks." They might have been pressured into this by their parents, for different reasons, but getting to the 'drama establishment' was always a good thing.

Brad chuckled. Yeah there were a lot of his fellow drama students that he would love the chance to rub their noses in it. Some of them were good actors for their age, Brad was passible at acting, but musicals weren't just about the acting. This time he had the edge "They'll live."

Dean chuckled and looked around. "Oh shit." He said. "My dad is here. And my brother. We can haze the underclassmen, right? It's encouraged? A lot?"

"Why? Looking for a way to get away with harrassing your little brother?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. Big time. You know, before he gets insubordinate and all." Dean said. "Dad signed me up for this. I'm hoping for a nice non speaking, non singing part myself."

"Good luck with that." Brad said with a soft laugh. "If I wind up with a good part, I can please mom and rub my dad's nose in it at the same time. So I'm hoping for at least a little time on stage."

"I don't remember what my mom liked." Dean said. "She died when I was four." He shrugged off the mood. "So you're not into the whole GI Joe thing? You sure got the underclassmen fooled."

"Yeah well, it goes with the territory. Besides, might as well do a good job of it while I'm here. Figure I can make Dad happy until I'm 18 then it's all about me. That's what I tell myself anyway."

Dean chuckled. "Good plan." Dean said, though he couldn't imagine it for himself. Not in the near future, and definitely not when he turned 18 in a few short months. "So when are they going to post the roster or list or whatever it is?"

"Tomorrow morning." He said. "Come on, let's get out of here." Brad didn't want to stick around for the stragglers. Class was over, and he was not at all interested in hanging out just to listen.

"Sounds like a plan." Dean said as he looked at his watch. "Okay, we should be able to make happy hour at the bar a couple miles down the road. Ten to one, I've got the cooler car, I'll drive." He said, waving at his father and brother up in the balcony. That was so humiliating.

"Don't know if you have noticed, but I'm not exactly 21 and people around here know the uniforms and what they mean." Brad pointed out.

Dean laughed. "That's why we change. And I show you how to get around bouncers." Dean said with a grin. "Meet you in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. Wear normal clothes. Nothing too pressed or starched or military."

"Yeah okay." He said figuring what the hell. the worst that could happen was that they got refused and had to find something else to do with their time.

Dean chuckled. Brad had no faith, but he would. Dean hadn't found a bar he couldn't get into, and couldn't get served in, since he was fifteen. So he went back to his room, changed, and left a note for Sam, asking him to jimmy the east door, just in case, and waited in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of the Impala as he waited for his latest protege.

Brad joined him 15 minutes later, having pulled his civilian clothing out ofthe duffel bag in the bottom of his closet. It felt strange to be wearing them again. "Okay... but if this plan of yours doesn't pan out, I know a great place to get pizza and the waitresses are worth the time."

"Then we'll hit that place next." Dean said with a grin as he unlocked the car and headed down to the bar, parking in the lot. The bar was filling up. "Ah, here we go." He said as he quick talked the bouncer until both their hands were stamped with the 'over 21' stamp. "See? Told you it didn't matter."

"That's crazy." Brad said with a grin. "Where did you learn how to pull the wool over people's eyes like that?"

"It's a gift from God." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, let's grab some beer and play some pool. So the waitresses at the pizza place are really worth the time, or just worth the time?"

"One of them is really worth the time, a couple are worth the time.. a couple are not worth the time." He said with a laugh.

"Sounds like you've got your eye on the one that's really worth the time." Dean teased. "Tell me you've talked to her at least."

"Well ... yeah... kinda." Brad said with a shrug. "We talked a little when she brought over the pizza."

Dean chuckled as he got their beers and handed one to Brad as they headed over to the pool table. "Dude, gotta do better than that. I talked a little with the girl at the burger stand and ended up with a date."

"Yeah but I am not the sort of guy that girls fall over themselves for. " He wasn't a bad looking kid, like his voice his features were all in potential of becoming something more.

Dean shook his head. "It's all on the presentation." He said as he drank his beer, pool forgotten. "Actually, you know what, come on. Let's go get some pizza. And you a date."

"Oh come on... I'm not that pathetic... really." Brad said as he finished off his beer. "You know, I was considered one of the cool kids before you arrived." He laughed.

Dean laughed. "You're still one of the cool kids. You're hanging out with me, right?" He said with a grin. "Come on, let's go chat up the girl that's really really worth your time."

Brad grinned. "Sure, why not?" he said as he got and started for the door. "So where did you guys live before coming here?" He asked.

Where had they been? It took Dean a moment as he fished his car keys out and unlocked the car. "South Dakota." Dean said. "Believe me, absolutely nothing there. At all. I was bored to tears most of the time."

"My family is from New York. Dad decided we needed to man up a few years ago and sent us here. Pretty much been here since except for a week at Christmas and two in the summer."

"Dude, my whole life is manning up. If I ever got a break from manning up, it would be not being around my dad." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe we should trade families. We'll keep our brothers though."

"Yeah, I wouldnt trade in Joe for a newer model for anything. The rest of the guys think I'm nuts. They all claim to want free of their little brothers."

"Sam's a pain in my ass. Big time. But let me tell you, he's the one that keeps me out of trouble." Dean said. "If I had to trade him, well, I wouldn't. I'd get violent."

"Don't get me wrong. Joe is a pain in the ass. Not just to me either. But I almost lost him a few years ago. Really puts the pain in the ass thing into perspective. The rest of the guys don't get that. They never had to fight to keep theirs alive. "

"Believe me,I get it." Dean said. His whole mission in life was keeping Sammy safe from harm and everything else that crossed their paths. From bullies to demons. He knew what it meant to keep your brother alive.

Brad was relieved to find that someone finally understood. "He's kinda desperate for my attention sometimes. So... I don't know.. maybe we should see if the kids get along."

"Would make it easier to watch out for the both of them." Dean agreed as he pulled up to the pizza place. If it was possible to make friends in a place he knew he'd be leaving sooner rather than later, then right now he did.

"Yeah. I got the lecture before coming back after summer that I was supposed to lighten up on watching over Joey, but it doesn't just go away. So yeah, anything that makes it easier to keep an eye on him without him knowing I am keeping an eye on him is great."

"I'm supposed to stop babying Sam or something." Dean said with a chuckle. "Says the same guy who made sure we were roommates." He rolled his eyes at that one, because sometimes his dad made no sense.

"And if anything like my parents, the same guy that said to keep an eye on him, make sure he stays safe and doesn't hurt himself too." Brad said.

"Got it in one!" Dean said with a laugh as he pulled into the pizza shop Brad indicated. "Okay, so you ready? Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and she's got a little sister. Tina at the burger place did."

"Joe is so not ready for dating." Brad said with a laugh. "Besides there is only so much embarrassment I am willing to endure even for Joey."

Dean laughed. "I'm going to train Sam myself. Someone has to, right?" He said with a grin as they headed into the pizza place. "Okay, so where's her section?"

"Over here." He said and led the way to a table in her section and took a seat. "The combo is great here."

Dean slid into his chair. "Okay, so I'll talk you up, don't argue with me." Dean said with a laugh. He already had a date for Friday, so he was set. "Combo, huh? Course I'll eat just about anything."

Kayla smiled as she walked over with their menus and two glasses of water "Hi." She said. "Can I get you a soda or anything while you decide?"

"I would love a soda." Dean said easily.

"Um..yeah, a soda, you know, sounds good." Brad said, then Dean kicked him under the table. "So how have you been?" He asked, doing his best not to reach down and rub his shin.

"Not bad, how about you guys... how's your brother doing? "

"He's doing good this year." Brad said. "You know... back to normal."

"Great, I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Dude. Lame." Dean said with a chuckle. "This is going to take some work I see. You're lucky I didn't have any plans for the afternoon."

"What? She asked about him." He said in confusion, not knowing what he had done wrong. "I spoke... even managed not to stammer."

"Well, that's a start." Dean said, shaking his head when Kayla returned with their drinks. Where he quickly engaged her in conversation about Dean being the new kid and Brad showing him all the ropes, turning the conversation back to Brad at every turn.

Brad joined in the conversation a little at a time, getting past his nerves a little with Dean there. This wasn't just any girl. This was the one he had a crush on for the last two years.

"You know, my brother Sam and I are checking out that new horror movie playing this Friday." Dean said. "Actually I'm chaperoning my brother's first date. Could use the company so I don't watch him like a hawk. You two should come with me and Tina."

She smiled and looked over at Brad, gauging his reaction. Then nodded. "Yeah sure, if Brad's going too, why not? Could be fun."

"You ahm... want me to pick you up?" Brad asked.

Dean grinned. Fifteen minutes. Had to be a new record for him. He drank his soda in quiet as he watched the two make plans for the movie, transportation, dinner and pick up. Then, when Kayla got up to check on another table, Dean grinned wider. "See? That wasn't so hard."

"Yeah, especially with you doing the asking for me. If there is a next time it should come much easier." He rolled his eyes but he grinned in a way that said thanks without having to get all sappy and say it.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, well, you're on your own for the actual date. I'm hoping I'll have my hands full. Besides, by then the cast should be posted, and you can blow her over with taking Marlon Brando's role." He said with a chuckle, though he actually had no idea who Marlon Brando played. "I remember last year, we had to watch A Streetcar Named Desire in english, and the girls were just making all sorts of comments about a young Marlon Brando, treating him as if he were nothing more than a side of beefcake for them to leer at. Women have no respect, man." He said with a grin.

Brad laughed. "Somehow I doubt having a lead in a musical is going to impress a girl." He said. "At least not a high school musical." He was having fun, he was relaxing and letting himself just be a kid, not worried about rank or who was watching.

"Dude, girls get impressed by the strangest things." Dean said with a laugh. "I had a girl go out with me just because of my car. Weird, huh?"

"Are you kidding? There are straight guys that would go out with you for that car." He teased in return. "That is so not a strange thing."

"My brother doesn't understand. He just sees a hunk of metal on four rubber tires. He's such a child." Dean said with a laugh. "But I've been known to use it to my advantage. Hey, a guy uses whatever he can, right?"

"Exactly. Little brothers don't get a lot of things but it's okay. They'll grow up eventually." Brad said, then smiled up as Kayla returned with their drinks.

"You two made up your minds what you want to order?" She asked.

"Combo." Brad said. "And bread sticks." He looked to Dean to see if he wanted anything else.

"Some garbage bread too." Dean added as Kayla wrote in on her pad and headed to the kitchen to put in the order. "Dude, in case I didn't say it before, good taste."

Brad smiled. "Yeah I think so. You can see why I was so nervous." He said. "She goes to the public school in town so if she wants to go out with me again, it will take special permission to get her into the military ball. But it would be worth it."

"You can't be nervous. Because chicks smell it like blood on the water." Dean said with a laugh. "That's when they go in for the kill. She's just a girl, you're just a guy, and it's just a Friday night. Now take a deep breath."

Brad did just that and laughed. "Yeah I guess. Easy for you to say. They seem to eat out of your hand." Although he was relieved that Kayla didn't seem overly interested in Dean at all.

"Oh yeah, Kayla was hanging on my every word." Dean scoffed with a laugh. It wasn't the point for Kayla to hang on Dean's every word, so it wasn't insulting or ego blowing that she didn't. If she did, it would actually have been disasterous. "It shouldn't be hard to get her into the military ball. You're the head of the class, all that rank stuff and everything. Flaunt your power, dude!"

"You are trying to create a monster. It's a good thing Halloween is coming up." He said with a laugh.

"Well, you gotta learn to talk to the girl before Friday." Dean said with a laugh. "Maybe she'll take her break with us."

"Here's hoping." He said then smiled up at her as she brought over their food. "Thanks." He thought a moment. "How late do you work tonight?"

"I'm on until six, I'm just covering part of a shift for someone." Kayla said.

"The important question is do you drive?" Dean asked with a grin.

"Um...yeah...why?" She asked.

"Because I drove here, and I might have to ditch him to go check on mylittle brother." Dean said.

"Yeah, I left my car back at the school." He said, not wanting to give her the impression he was the friend always in need of a lift from someone else.

"Oh sure, that's no problem." Kayla said with a smile, and Dean shot Brad a grin at that.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that." He told her. "Besides then you can show me where to pick you up on Friday."

Dean looked at his watch. "Crap, I gotta go." Dean said. "I'm late and my dad will kill me, and you'll have to take Sammy out on his date." He said with a chuckle as he laid down the money for his share of the food and tip. "See you later." Dean said, more than happy to leave the new couple to their own endeavors and go check up on his brother and father.

DFTR-DFTR-DFTR

Sam had finished his homework in record time, and had gone in search of his father once more, finding him in the gym. He still worried about John. It had been great having their heart to heart earlier, and going to watch Dean tryout for the play. It had felt normal.

But if there was one thing that Sam knew about his father and brother, normal was alien to them, and if either of them appeared to be striving for normal... they were either hiding something... or ... they were trying to protect Sam. Given the current circumstances, he doubted it had anything to do with protection at this stage of the game.

"Hey Dad." He said entering the gymnasium.

"Hey, Sammy." John said as he rolled up another mat to store away for the day. Today was a nice normal day in the scheme of things. Mary would have been proud, he was sure.

"You seem to like this job." He said as he started to help his dad. It was an old habit. One of the reasons the family worked as well as it did. Dean and Sam currently both lacked the typical lazy teenager gene.

"It's not bad." John agreed. "Could have been a lot worse. Plus you two boys seem to be settling in okay."

"Yeah. I guess. It's a new school. " He shrugged. "Dean is off with friends tonight so that's a good sign." He figured any bit of normal Dean could have was good. "We get to see more of you, and Dean isn't always figuring I need walked home from school still." He laughed at the last. "I figure when I'm a senior, he will still be showing up to pick me up from school."

"It's a good compromise." John said with a laugh. "Boarding school. Hard to walk you home from that, right? And it's good to see you boys doing normal things for once." Something they rarely got to do because of how he chose to live their lives.

"Yeah. leave it to Winchesters to have to live at a military academy to fit in and be normal." He said with a laugh. "It's good to see more of you too."

"It's good to be able to be around more." John said with a sigh. He didn't like leaving his kids as often as he did. Every time he did, he drove away with a sense of failure and guilt.

"Yeah... I suppose there could be worse things than finishing out the year here after all." Sam said. "Besides, then I would have all summer to grow out enough hair to hide my ears."

That made John laugh, a real laugh. "And here I've been worried that Dean was too centered on his appearance." He said with a grin. "Your hair is fine, and your ears are fine, Sam."

"My ears are twice the size of normal people ears. I look like the kid on the cover of Mad magazine. And while everyone here is fine with Dumbo ears cause they have no room to talk, out there... away from the military influence... Dumbo ears are not a sign of fitting in."

John chuckled and shook his head. "You're in an awkward phase. It'll pass. I promise. The rest of your head will grow into your ears, and the rest of your body will grow into your head. When I was your age, I had Dumbo ears, and legs like twigs, and arms way too long. Believe me, I know what you're going through. But it does pass."

Sam laughed at that, that was something he had never really thought about with his dad. "I have more legs and ears than anything else." He said with a grin.

"You're probably going to be tall." John said with certainty. Sam was already sprouting like a weed. Last year he'd been a chubby preadolscent. He was 'growing into his weight' as the saying went.

"Either tall or deformed. Hoping for tall. You're tall, it makes sense." Sam said with a nod as he put away the last of the mats.

John chuckled. "Your mother wasn't. Not overly so." He said. Not that Sam knew his mother. And Dean's memories of her height weren't valid, since they were from a four year old's perspective. "I think Dean's going to get a bit above six feet tall, that's a good height."

"Definitely not short,. He used to get teased about being short when we were little." Sam said. "Gotta say they have stealth bullies around here or they have better things to be doing with their time at the moment. Keep expecting 'em around the next corner."

"This isn't like every other school." John said. "It's a military boarding school. There'sa whole other behavior. They know they're being watched when they least expect it. If they decide to bully you or your brother, they'll definitely be stealth about it."

"Which means they will be worse when they do finally get around to it. Cause, you know, some how it's our fault they don't get to do it in the open like the public school bullies."

"Don't worry so much. It might end up being like the prank war you and your brother are masters at." John said. And there was nothing like getting caught in the middle of aWinchester prank war, especially if you were a parent. You weren't supposed to laugh while yelling at your kids!

Sam chuckled. "I think Dean and I could win a prank war against anyone if we teamed up." Sam said with a grin.

"You definitely would." John said. "So I say they should bring it on. It'll be fun to watch, even if I do it with a disapproving glare."

"That's only if you find proof of who did it after all." Sam said with a shrug. "When its just me and Dean, it's pretty safe bet who is doing what to whom... not even a chance of hiding it."

"I'm your father. I think I'll have a pretty good idea." John said. "Don't worry, I'll feign innocence if questioned." Nearly like a secret conspiracy, and weirdly enough, that was normal behavior. Something he had missed most of the time.

Sam smiled. "Did you get anything to eat?" He asked, having not seen his father or brother in the mess hall that evening.

"Um...I think I ate at lunch." John said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go see what we can scrounge up."

Sam smiled and let his dad lead the way. It was like having a real family for a while and Sam wasnt going to let that go easily. Who knew what would happen when they left there?

Dinner was over, but as faculty, John could get into the kitchen. So he opened it up and started pulling out food to make. "So what do you feel like?" He asked his youngest.

He shrugged. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup is always a winner but I am betting there is no such thing as a small can of tomato soup around here."

John laughed. "Who cares? The tuition they charge for this place lately, they can afford another can of soup." He said as he found the cheese, bread, and supersized can of tomato soup.

Sam got out the milk, because Dean always made it cream of tomato and that's the way Sam liked it best. Hard to say at this point if the habit started because Sam liked it best that way or if he liked it best because that was how Dean made it. "How long did you go to school here? Some of the kids here are pretty young."

"Just high school." John said. "My dad thought I needed a bit of discipline in my life, and applied for a scholarship, I got it, and off I went. It was good for me though. I learned a lot here, a lot that served me well later, and still does now."

Sam nodded. "It's sure made it easier on Dean and I here. I'm trying out for the football team tomorrow after class, and then have to run over to the shooting range for marksmanship trials. It's kinda weird doing all that at school. Usually I am meeting you and Dean out of town somewhere for that sort of thing."

"Makes it a lot easier for me." John said with a chuckle. "Now I don't have to find those out of the way places." He had no fear about his sons in the marksmenship trials. Given their education at his hands, they'd breeze through that just as easily as they did the obstacle course.

"Yeah, I guess it does. And someone else gets to do the teaching this time." He took his seat at the table. "Are any of the teachers the same here as when you were in school?" It hadn't been that long ago after all.

John finished making the soup and sandwiches and came to the table himself. "The math teacher is, and he's just as cranky as he ever was." John said with a chuckle. "The librarian is the same, wife of the provost when I was in school. He's dead now, of course, but they let her keep her post."

Sam made a mental note to talk to her the following day during his free period. Librarians and old ladies liked Sam. Might as well work it to his favor for a change. "Yeah, the math teacher really needs to retire before he gives himself a stroke or something. That vein gets going on his forehead and I am sure it's gonna blow."

John laughed. "That vein's been going since I was in high school. He's probably going to outlive us all." He commented.

"That's scary. Sounds like one of those B movies I used to turn on when Dean finally went to sleep at night. Math teacher zombies from hell or something. Cause... that man is old." Sam said as he picked up one of the cheese sandwiches and dipped the corner into his tomato soup.

John laughed. "Don't let your brother know he fell asleep on you." He said with a chuckle. "He'll never sleep again. And he'll need to be rested for his dramatic debut." He said with a grin, though he was surprised how well Dean had held his own with such a unique choice and no preparation.

"Yeah no kidding." Sam said. "He's kinda funny that way. I think the only reason he got me a date was so that he didn't have to leave me at home." He added with a laugh.

John felt more than a little stab of guilt at that. Was he making his oldest grow up too fast to take care of his youngest? He probably was, and there really wasn't anything he could about that.

"Dad? You okay?" He asked again, catching that look in his father's eyes again. The one that had him worried the day before.

"Yeah, Sammy, I'm fine." John said. "Just tired. This teaching thing is a lot more tiring than I thought it woul dbe." He said. Sounded good.

Sam had never known his father to tire easily. The man was a juggernaught. He never slowed down no matter how tired he was, no matter how hurt he was. "Yeah, okay, Dad. Guess hunting at night and getting up before dawn the next day would be pretty exhausting." He hoped that was all it was but he really didn't believe it.

John chuckled. "It eventually wears on you." He said as he cleaned up their meal. "Okay, let's get you in the dorms before lights out."

Sam nodded. "Okay." He said. "Maybe you should get some rest too, Dad. We got a lot done and tomorrow I'm gonna hit the library in town after school so we'll get more information soon."

"Taking your brother?" John asked. He was still leery on letting Sam out and about unsupervised.

"Dad... When Dean was my age, he was watching over me all the time. I think I can manage to go to the library on my own. I'm a freshman in highschool now."

"Dean is Dean and you're Sam." John said. "Fine, I'll go with you. Final offer."

"What? I'm some sort of irresponsible idiot or something? " Sam asked sharply, losing a lot of the feeling of connection he had started feeling with his father. "Forget it. I'm probably too irresponsible or stupid to do the research in the first place. Do it yourself." He said and turned to storm away.

"Sam!" John said, getting up. "Samuel, I'm talking to you!" He said, though it wasn't hard to catch up to Sam. "What's gotten into you now?" He always felt like he was treading on a floor of fragile glass with Sam. No matter what he said, it always ended up being wrong.

"Dean at 13 was responsible enough to watch over a 9 year old for days on end all by himself but I'm not responsible enough to go to the library by myself. What ever Dad. I get it. I won't ever be as good as Dean. But I'm not an idiot and I'm not a little boy anymore."

"You're my son and I'm your father!" John shot back. "That puts me in charge, and for once I would like to be able to do that without you automatically falling back on some adolescent inferiority complex that's not based in reality. You're smarter than that!"

"Then what the hell reality is it that makes me the one that can't tie his own shoes in your eyes?" Sam countered. "The reality is that you don't trust me to go on my own. What ever your reasoning is... obviously you aren't sharing."

"And I don't have to!" John snapped. "I'm your father. That's enough. Now if you want to go to the damn library, meet me after your last class."

"And you wonder where I get the inferiority complex. No I don't want to go to the library. I don't want to be a hunter. That's your hang up. Not mine. You can't have it both ways, Dad. You can't put me in this place where I could wind up being the next suicide and then tell me I'm not capable of taking care of myself. Make up your mind."

"You're not going to be the next suicide. You're smarter than that. You're supposed to watch the other kids and see if anyone is being affected by any of it. Need me to explain your job anymore?"

"Suicide has nothing to do with intelligence." Sam said indignantly, having done his share of research the year previous. "In fact amongst teenagers, it's more common amongst the more intelligent kids. Besides... we're talking about supernaturally influenced kids. All bets go out the window. What I need is for you to stop treating me like I'm a little kid."

"Then you need to stop acting like a little kid." John said. "Do your research, but you're not going off alone. End of discussion."

"What ever Dad." Sam said as he entered his room and managed some how to slam the door without a sound.

"Dude." Dean said from his desk where he was attempting to do some homework. He'd been attempting all night, actually, once he got back from the diner. "What's wrong now?"

"You'd just take his side." Sam said as he picked up his own books and got onto the bed to work on his own home work.

"Whatever." Dean said. "Hey, Sam...got a big favor to ask. See, I kinda want to go out and about, but after Dad finds out I took his car keys and dumped all the booze...I'm definitely going to be grounded. Think I can drop you off at the library, and pretend to stay with you?" He asked, honestly having no idea what John and Sam had argued about (this time).

Sam groaned. "Yeah okay... if Dad doesn't insist on going along with me anyway. The man thinks I'm 5 or something."

"Well, that's Dad's hang up." Dean said. "I know you're not. I also know he won't let me go anywhere unless it's for his benefit or watching you...so this works on both fronts...right? I mean, you said before you wanted to go to the library..." Was he taking advantage of Sam? Because Sam could blow the whole thing out of the water and get Dean in even deeper trouble. Dean was just stir crazy (already) was all.

"Yeah what ever." Sam said a little sullenly. "We had been talking so well earlier - then all the sudden he decides I can't be trusted on my own."

He understood that Sam was thirteen. He remembered thirteen, it hadn't been all that fun. But dammit, he was seventeen, nearly eighteen, and he was sick of getting pulled between Sam and Dad all the time. Or breaking them up all the other times. So he closed his book and climbed up on the bunk above Sam. "Whatever. You don't want to go, you don't want to go."

"Forget I said anything." Sam said. It hurt that he couldn't even talk to his brother about these things. It always pissed Dean off, which only served to make Sam feel even more like a stranger in his own family. "Yeah I will cover for you. Might as well make the best of it."

"Forget it." Dean said as he squirmed to find a comfortable spot on the bed. Sam wanted to mope about being treated like a kid. Sometimes Dean wished he was treated like a kid. But no, while Sam was off being treated like a kid, Dean was detoxing his father's room and taking the keys. And he was supposed to commiserate about being treated like a kid? He wished he could, he really did.

"Fine, whatever." Sam sighed and rolled over to face the wall. Maybe his dad and Dean should leave him here. Maybe he could make himself fit into a boarding school where he obviously couldn't in his own family.

Dean grumbled to himself. He didn't sleep much that night. And when they came to wake them up in the morning, he pushed past the guy with the trash can lids. "Whatever dude, shut up." He said as he made his way to the showers.

Sam moved on auto pilot to get ready for classes, doing his best to avoid both his father and brother at breakfast, choosing instead to sit next to his newfound friend from typing class "Hey." He said a glummly.

"Well you look all happy this morning." He said. "This is why I'm glad sometimes my parents are in Florida, and my sister is across town at the girls' school."

"Don't you miss having her around?" Sam asked, thinking that he would miss Dean more than anything when they finally were both grown and getting on with their lives. He had no doubt Dean would be a hunter like their father. But Sam wanted nothing to do with hunting. Wanted nothing to do with the demons and monsters that had and still were destroying his family.

Rob shrugged. "Nah. I have an older brother, he was here before. Graduated last year. Now he's off at college, I don't know, we're just not that close."

"Dad and I aren't close at all. Sometimes it's like... I don't know... like I'm living with a total stranger. And with Dean it depends on the day of the week whether he is my best friend or someone that is stuck with me."

Rob laughed. "Did you miss that stupid health class that I had to take last year?" He said with a grin. "When the adolescent male goes through puberty, starting around the age of 12, his body goes through immense changes up until the age of 21, at least." He said, sounding like he was quoting an instructional video, which he was. "During this time, it can seem like living with a complete stranger, the adolescent male is prone to sudden mood changes and moodiness. It is best just to be patient, and not react like the adolescent male is a rabid animal."

"Yeah well, Dean gets to be his age at least. They both treat me like I'm 8 or something. It makes me crazy. There are days that I really just want to be anywhere that they aren't."

"Who are you kidding? You worship your brother." Rob said, then shrugged. "I worship mine. Only difference is, I get to do it from afar. Other than holidays, don't think I've been actually in the same room with him for years. Oh we do the email and letters and stuff like that, but it's not the same."

"I know." He said with a sigh. "It's what makes it so hard. I know they care about me... I'm not that much of a bone head. I just... don't fit in. I'm not who or what they want me to be or even what they think I am. Ya know?"

"You know what I think? You need to chill. Seriously." Rob said. "You're barely in high school. You gotta relax, or you're going to end up like the science club kid from last year. His parents had him on track to be Nobel winner by the time he was 25."

How did you chill when your father expected you to be a hunter one minute and practically in diapers the next? He wasn't good at pretending all the time. He needed to be himself some of the time. But himself wasn't acceptable. "My dad would probably be happy if I had a C average. It's not that. ... school used to be where I felt normal."

"Well this school isn't normal." Rob said with a chuckle. "Look around, we're all in uniforms with buzzcuts. And none of us should have buzzcuts. I didn't know how small my head was compared to my neck until I got this thing." He said, running a hand over his hair.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah, unfortunately I knew how big my ears are but that didn't make any difference. Last time I had this hair cut, the other kids were calling me Dumbo." He said quietly so only Rob could hear.

Rob shrugged. "Last year I was called Pinhead." He said, then he grinned. "Then I stomped a sophomore who thought he could push around an eighth grader, and I haven't heard it since."

"Yeah. Don't blame them." He said with a grin. "I think around here, there is just an excess of dumbo ears so no one wants to start that particular finger pointing."

"Exactly. So you got off easy." Rob said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I didn't start here a couple of years ago when my legs were too long for the rest of me." He said with a genuine laugh.

Rob laughed. "That was probably funny." He said.

Dean scarfed down breakfast. He was well aware his brother was avoiding him, so he ate it before he was even fully out of the line, disposed of his tray and left the cafeteria. Now he just had to avoid his father as he went outside the auditorium for the posting of the cast list. He personally didn't really care, but he said he'd meet Brad there, so he was meeting Brad there, wondering if John had noticed that his room had been carefully gone through.

Brad was already there looking over the list. "Hey man, don't know if I should congratulate you or not." He said and showed Dean the list. "Me... I'm playing Skye Masterson. Should be a blast. "

Dean looked at the list. "Remember, I'm a complete new kid on this thing." He said with a chuckle. "What does understudy for Nathan Detroit mean? Is that good or bad? Do I actually have to go on stage?"

"So long as the guy who is playing Nathan Detroit is able to go on stage, you don't have to, but you have to learn the part just like he does, because if he trips over his big feet and falls of the stage and breaks his leg or something, you have to go on instead of him."

"Okay, note to self. Wrap that guy in bubble wrap." Dean said witha chuckle. "Well, that's good. I get credit without actually having to do something. Can't beat that. So your mom should be over the moon when you tell her."

"Yeah. Mom will. Dad'll have kittens but I guess it's inevitable since I'm not gonna go into the service either." He said with a faint grin. Or was it a grimace.

Dean laughed. "I better not hear jack about it from my dad. Considering that he signed me up for this damn thing in the first place!" Dean pointed out. Given their lifestyle, he was sure John didn't have aspirations of either of his sons joining the Corp when they were adults. Just as well too...Dean didn't deal well with authority in general, and only his father in specifics.

Brad laughed. "Come on, we're gonna be late for first bell." He said. "And don't worry. Its great fun to bait fathers. Well it is from a distance. Not sure I would want to bait mine if he were on hand to dish out the push ups. Would you believe I did my first push up at 4?"

Dean laughed hard at that. "Actually, I would." Dean said. Push ups at four. Extreme outdoor camping at eight. Modifying fire arms at twelve. Participated in his first exorcism at nine, killed his first 'evil son of a bitch' on his own at fourteen. Push ups at four? He could completely believe that.

"Guess you got the same problem I do... a Marine for a father." Brad said with a grin. "Well it isn't all bad. I mean...he could have been regular army or something."

"Or, dude, Coast Guard." Dean said with a chuckle as they headed toward their class. He saw his father out of the corner of his eye, and rushed into the room, sliding into the seat. "So these rehearsals, the girls get to come, right?"

"Yeah, the girls get to come." He said with a grin. "That's why so many guys sign up for drama once they hit puberty."

"Yeah, I can see why." Being sentenced to an all boys school after all. That had to be wearing after a while. It was already nearly driving him nuts. "So, dude, the rest of those guys are seriously going to be hating on you, you know." Dean didn't care. He didn't want ANY part, really.

"They'll get over it. They did last year. Started spreading rumors I was gay, until I pounded one of 'em." Brad said with a shrug.

Dean laughed. "Oh god, gay rumors. Love it." Dean said. "I haven't been in a fight since the last school, so hopefully someone will call me gay."

"It's not that hard to get in a fight around here. Trust me."

The teacher cleared his throat as the bell rang and Brad grinned at Dean a moment then turned to face the front of the class as was expected.

Dean grinned back, and flashed his grin at the teacher as he paid minimal attention throughout the class. Enough to be able to pass a test, he guessed, but not much more than that. He called Sam the brainchild of the family, but Dean knew he wasn't dumb. He just lacked the ability to pay attention to things he wasn't interested in. If they had stayed in one place long enough, he was convinced he would have been put on Ritalin a long time ago.

The first half of the day passed quickly and soon both brothers found themselves staring at one another in the lunch line. "Hey." Sam said quietly.

"Hey." Dean said. "Look, you want to bitch about Dad, fine, I'll let you. I'll stare blankly at the ceiling, but I'll let you." He just wasn't up to it last night. He'd spent a few hours being a normal teenager, something that so rarely happened, that getting stuck between his father and his brother again felt like someone was holding his head under freezing cold water.

"You know... sometimes... most of the time... I don't want you to take sides. I just want you to be my brother... to let me bitch and maybe be a little supportive. It'snot about betraying Dad you know... it really isn't." Sam said looking down at his feet.

"And sometimes, on the rare times, when I get to be a normal kid, for a bit after I like to pretend I'm still a normal kid." Dean said, shaking his head.

"What? You don't think normal kids have to listen to their little brothers complain about their fathers? Get real, it's probably the one normal thing out there we consistantly have. But what the hell, sorry I interfered in your chance to be normal. You know what... find me someone else to talk to about all those things that bug me and I won't bother you with it ... oh wait... I can't. Because it's all a big secret. Guess that means I don't get to talk to anyone, doesn't it?"

Now Dean felt guilty, and his foot tapped a bit at that. "I said I'd listen! What do you want from me, Sam? Come on, I always listen. One night that I just don't want to, one single night since you were born, and suddenly I'm the bad, uncaring, insenstive one?"

"You said you would stare blankly at the ceiling and let me. That's not listening Dean. That's ignoring me while I talk. Look, I get it. Okay. I do. Dad is your hero, he's pretty high on my list too, believe it or not. I just ... never mind. It doesn't matter."

"No, you don't get it." Dean shot back. "Look, you talk, I listen, I try to think of solutions. Then you get mad, and Dad gets mad, and I'm already ducking him." He dug into his pocket and pulled out their father's keys. "You know how many bottles I emptied last night?" He asked in a hushed whispered. "You don't want to know. You don't want to know how many empty ones I found. I hate changing schools. There, I said it. I can do it, but I hate it. And if Dad gets fired because he's drinking, we'll have to change, this time with no back up plan, because I don't think he has one. He's drinking, I don't know why. So with all that on my mind, you want me to listen to you bitch because Dad treats you like a toddler. Fine, whatever. I'll listen. If it will make everyone happy, I'll listen and be able to repeat every word you say. Of course, then I'll add my own commentary to it, which will just piss you off. Then I'll end up having the same conversation with Dad, because I hate it when you're pissed off, which will just piss him off, but hey, then you'll be able to have something in common, because you'll both be pissed at me." He said with a shrug, shoving the keys back in his pocket.

No one, except Dean, knew how heavy the weight on his shoulders was. The sad thing, really, was that he was used to it. Came to expect it. And never expected it to go away, at least not anytime soon. Possibly not even while he was alive.

"Dean..." Sam said. "I don't expect you to get between me and Dad... you don't have to make things right for us. You don't have to do that. If he is mad at me about something, there isn't anything you can do. I know that."

"Fine. Look, I offered to let you talk out your frustrations so we both stay sane. You're just picky." Dean said with a bit of a grin. Dean sighed. "Yeah, well, I'll try to figure out a way anyway." Because it was horrible to have your entire family at each other's throats. And Sam and their father...they were his entire family.

"Yeah well, I can't stop you I guess but... that isn't what I am after when I try and talk to you about stuff, Dean. I just want to talk out the frustration is all."

"Then does it make a difference if I'm staring at the ceiling? Because otherwise I'll try to come up with solutions." He pointed out.

"Because then it doesn't feel like ... never mind. It's okay. I'm sorry." Sam said. "Come on... let's get something to eat."

"Now you're speaking my language." Dean said with a laugh as they grabbed trays. "So I'm an understudy. Which means I get to keep an eye on the drama club without actually having to go up on stage. And that's all right by me."

"I thought you were pretty good. But I don't blame you for not wanting to be up there. " He was glad to let the subject drop. Nothing hadchanged but at least he had said something. "Which part are you understudying?"

Dean shrugged. "Nathan Detroit. So I guess that's okay." He could tell a big blow up between Sam and their dad was right around the corner. He hated that. He hated that they came, and he hated that he could tell when they were coming.

"Could be worse, you could be playing the cop. or understudying the cop or what ever. That would really be contrary to the Winchester family ideal." He said with a laugh.

"There's a cop in it?" Dean asked. "Wow. Well, that sucks. Have to find out who's playing him, see if I like him or not. If not, well, then it is the Winchester ideal to give them hell."

"Yeah... there is. When you take me to the library tonight I'll see if it's on the list of movies to borrow." Sam said.

Dean shook his head. "I'm going to watch a musical." Dean said. "My life as I know it is over."

"Dude, if the other guy gets the flu or something you are going to be IN a musical." Sam teased.

"Dude, don't remind me." Dean said with a scowl. "This is going to suck. I've met the guy. Don't really like him. Yet it is my personal mission to make sure he stays healthy and uninjured."

"Good luck with that." Sam said as he got his tray of food. "For all we know, he wants out of the part as much as you don't want into it."

"Well, too bad, he had it first." Dean said with a laugh. "So he can keep it. Besides, I'm just there to watch the girls. I mean the drama club. And look for suicidal behavior."

Sam laughed. "Yeah... the drama club." He said shaking his head. "Turns out the librarian here at the school was the same librarian as when Dad went here. She wasmarried to the head master back then."

"Wow." Dean said with a laugh. "Well, that's your gig. Librarians love you. You also love them. It's one big lovefest. But if you score cookies, save one for me."

"Hey if I do all the work why should I share the score?" Sam asked with a grin.

"Because I'm older and I said so." Dean said with a laugh. "Because every time I go into the library, they start checking the book covers for grafitti." He'd never actually done that, but for some odd reason they expected him to.

"Weird. I'll think about it." He said. "I'll check it out tomorrow during free period. Tonight the big library though."

"Am I takingyou or are you going with Dad?" Dean said. Would work if he took Sam. Could get off the grounds for a bit.

"Heh...I'm going with you. I want to avoid Dad for a while. I really did try getting along with him, Dean. I did."

Dean sighed. "I know." He said. "Dad's just...he's Dad." There wasn't really any other way to describe it.

"Yeah... I know... It'll work out. It always does. He's just depressed. Maybe it's this place. Too structured for him these days or something."

"You've got a point. It might not be all he remembered it was, that whole military life." Dean said with a shrug as he sat down and started to eat. "So right after last period we'll go, how's that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." Sam said. "Might want to do that tonight for sure, don't know when you are going to have to start rehearsals."

"Dude, that's starting to sound like a swear word." Dean said. "I've had to endure class with idiots who are excited about it. Whatever. I'll just, I don't know, read a book or something."

Sam laughed. "If I had your luck, I would start studying the part hard core. You'll wind up on stage at least once."

"Dude, no." Dean said, horrified at the thought. It was one thing to be the center of attention, quite another to be on stage. "Think I might get sick and let my understudy handle it. I'm sure they'd find one if they had to. Maybe you should learn the part."

Sam laughed. "Dean... I'm the science geek. Not in drama remember. And besides you are the understudy. Understudies don't get understudies. "

"Well they should." Dean grumbled. "It's completely unfair. I mean, there are kids who really wanted a part that didn't get one, and I got stuck with one because my dad made me try out so I could be on the scene for anything weird that might happen."

"You'll survive it I promise." Sam said with a laugh. "It won't kill you. You might even like it." He said repeating words he heard every time he was stuck with something he didn't want to do.

Dean scowled. "Sam, we're not talking about carrots at dinner time." He said. "We're talking about a potentially humiliating experience from which I might not ever recover."

"Like shaving my head, trying out for football, band... god, remember when he tried to get me to play the trumpet?"

Dean laughed. "Oh yeah. And the band teacher wrote a polite note home that perhaps you should take up another hobby." Dean said. Well, it was true. Sam had been unteachable at the trumpet.

"And Dad wrote a polite note back telling him that I wasnt there to take up a hobby I was there to learn music and he was there to teach it. Oh yeah... that was a great year. So cheer up. You can't be any worse at acting than I am at trumpet."

"I'm awesome at acting." Dean said. It would be just like pulling a con pretty much, right? "It's the singing. And dancing." He said, making a face of distaste. "That's what I'm worried about."

"Well apparently you sang well enough to get the part." Sam pointed out. "So you will be fine. Just learn the part and pray a lot that the other guy doesn't get sick. "

"Unless he's dead, he'll be on that stage. And maybe even if he's dead, I'll figure out something." Dean said with a chuckle. "Why should a little cold or small pox deprive him of the limelight? Honestly, I'm looking after his best interests."

"With this family's luck... learn the part." Sam said. "And with that I have to get to class. Dad hates it when I miss his class." Sam rolled his eyes. "Tomorrow I get to try out for the foot ball team. Oh Joy of Joys."

"Could be worse. You could be learning to dance on stage." Dean said with a scowl. "Yeah, I should make a class or two. Let me know what kind of mood he's in so I know whether to avoid him."

"Dean... I don't think he has noticed anything... which to be honest scares the hell out of me."

Dean looked at surprise while gathering up his tray. Their dad not notice? The guy who had an eagle's eye for the smallest detail? "Oh man." He said. "Yeah, now I'm worried."

"Something is going on with him... you don't think..." Sam didn't want to think that maybe their father was the first victim this year for what ever it was that was driving people to suicide.

Dean's jaw clenched and he looked away. "No, of course not." He said. Because it was what Sam wanted and needed to hear. "We'll keep an eye on him, everything will be fine, okay? I'll handle it."

Sam nodded. "I've been trying but... Well... he and I just seem to always make each other worse." He was glad that Dean would look after their father. Dean was the one he trusted to take care of them all. It wasn't fair, but it was how things were.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Dean said. And you too he added silently. "It'll be fine, Sam. We know what we're looking for, and since you were all into suicide research last year, you can help."

Sam nodded ."Okay. Yeah... we'll make sure Dad is okay... " Sam frowned, and looked at the clock again. "I gotta get to class. Wanna get there a little early to see how he is."

"Yeah good luck with that." Dean said. His father could be as transparent as a brick wall when he wanted to be. And Dean would lay money on this being one of those times that he wanted to be.

Sam ran to the gymnasium, to find his father. They hadn't parted on the best of terms the night before. They hadn't gotten along well since Sam had found out the truth about the world around them, but he still loved his dad and part of him wanted to have a normal relationship with him, but the truth was that John had lied to him about some pretty major stuff for years and Sam wasn't sure he could trust him to tell him what was going on most of the time.

John nodded to Sam as he joined the line up in the class. He looked even more tired, his eyes one step away from being blood shot. But his shoulders were straight, though whether that was natural or by pure force of will was debateable. He knew Sam feltbad about their argument, so did he. There was so much Sam didn't know, that John couldn't tell him. Because John didn't know the whole story yet.

Sam paid close attention to his father through out the class, and once again lagged back when the others went on to their next class. It was convenient to have a free period after PE.

John looked at Sam hanging behind and sighed as he started to pick up and set up for the next class. Dragging mats back into the storage room and bringing out the basketballs. "What is it, Sam?" He asked, sounding more tired than sharp.

"Just wanted to see you today is all." Sam said as he started to help his dad with the mats. "You look tired... did you get any sleep last night?"

"I got enough." John said. All his equipment, as ramshod as it was, wasn't picking up anything. It should have been picking up something. And he was mad beyond belief at Dean. That was the only option for where the keys to his truck went.

"I'm sorry we fought last night. I just... it gets to me some times. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, really."

"Sam, I'm fine. I've got a thicker skin than you think." John said. "But apology accepted. And I'm not changing my mind. Because you and your brother are different, in what you can handle."

"Yeah I obviously can't handle the library. Dangerous place with all those books and librarians. I hear they're hella evil." Sam said rolling his eyes "Worse than the hunts you drag me along for. So if I hadn't already gotten Dean to agree to take me I would bow out entirely, trembling in fear." He said in a bland tone that indicated exactly where his father could put his low opinion of him. "So since the apology was accepted and I have once more been told I am lacking, I'm gonna go to class." Not that he had one, he was on his free hour. But right then he was wishing he hadnt apologized in the first place. "Later." He said turning on his heel to leave.

"Sam!" John called after him. "Samuel! You do not take that tone with me. I am your father and I am entitled to more respect than that."

"Sorry Dad, I must be too stupid to know that. After all, I cantdeal with things as well asDean does." Sam grumbled. "Guess that includes you."

"Why do you feel the need to pick a fight with me every single day? And question my authority? And my decisions?" John demanded. "What's gotten into you?" He didn't remember Dean being like this.

Sam turned back to face his father. "Why do you feel the need to point out that you think I am irresponsible and empty headed? Why else wouldn't I be able to handle things as well as a freaking 9 year old? You remember that, right? Me... Dean... alone... hotel rooms... he was 9 and I was 5. Yeah... you had more faith in Dean at 9 than you do in me now. And you point it out every chance you get. THAT is why I challenge you. Because I am sick of feeling like the retarded brat you never wanted in the first place. "

John's jaw twitched. Dangerously twitched. His teeth grinding made almost an audible sound to Sam across the room. "Watch your tone." He said in a low voice. "You are the child, I am the adult, that is the only thing you need to know."

"That's the problem Dad... I already know too much. " Sam said' "And you can't make me unlearn it. You can't make me respect you when you aren't around enough for me to earn it. You don't know me. You don't even want to. Hell you don't even know Dean, and he worships the ground you walk on. When I found out the truth... when I dug out your book and found out the truth... he told me our Dad was like a super hero- out fighting the bad guys. Better than James Bond he said. I think he still believes it. All I knew was that you had lied to me my whole life. You still do. You lie to me and you try and make me feel stupid and useless. Being an adult doesn't change that. Doesn't make it right. No matter how much you try and convince me it does."

"What do you want me to do, Sam? Not do my damn job?" John said. "I thought you were old enough to accept that along with this responsibility comes sacrifice. It stinks, but we all have to do it."

"How can you say that when not 5 minutes ago you were saying I'm not responsible enough to go to the library on my own? I don't know what you expect of me." Sam said in exasperation. "I can handle that you do the job. I can handle that you are never around. I can't handle what you think of me. I'm sick of the double standards. I'm a little kid when it suits you, and a soldier in your war when it suits you. I'm old enough to kill and die but I'm not old enough to act like a normal 14 year old. Screw that. Make up your mind."

"Watch your tone." John growled again. "I made my decision, you're the one who has to have his way or he's going to throwa childish temper tantrum. That's hardly going to convince me that you're mature enough to cut your own meat, never mind go out alone."

Dean watched fora few moments from the door way. "Okay, that's enough. Both of you." He said. "I'm taking Sam to the library, for that I need gas money. Sam will do his research. You'll do yours. And you two will stopyelling at each other for five minutes."

Sam turned on his heel and walked out. He was on the verge of tears and that was the last thing he wanted his father or brother to see. Dean would think less of him and it would just give his father more amunition. He swore the man hated him.

Every time they started to get along, it got worse the next day, as if there was some cosmic force out there trying to balance the scales back out again. Hell, everything John had said to him before was probably another lie anyway.He probably did hate him for Mary's death. It was the only thing that made sense.

"I'll meet you at the car." He said, for Dean's benefit.

Dean nodded and waited until Sam was gone. "Why do you do that?" Dean asked softly, just in case Sam was hanging around. "He's having a tough enough time as it is, new school, new routine, new friends, being thirteen..."

"He won't take no for an answer." John said. "Argues with me at every turn. I'm not going to put up with that from either of you."

"Fine." Dean said, backing down as he usually did where John was concerned. Probably why he pushed every limit in every other area of his life. "I'll watch after Sam, no worries."

"You do that. He isn't thinking clearly. Starting to wonder if the place isn't starting to affect him. One of the early stages of that sort of depression is anger. And Sam has a lot of it. "

Dean wanted to add that Sam wasn't the only one showing some anger, but thought better of it. "I gotta go, Sam's waiting." He said instead. "Gas money?"

John frowned but pulled out his wallet. They were headed out to work the job after all. "You two get something to eat while you are out." He said and added a few extra dollars to it. "And the next time you get into my things, I'll tan your hide for you." He added, not having forgotten the emptied bottles.

"I don't care if you drink." But he did. "But we're on a job. And we need to get through it. You can't do that drunk. You can't do your day job and your real job smashed."

That's what he wanted to say.

"Yes sir." Was what he did say as he headed out to join Sam.

Sam waited in the car as he had promised, but it had taken a serious amount of willpower to stay there. He had never wanted to be further away from a place in his life. Away from his father more to the point. He didnt want to be away from his brother.

Dean slipped silently behind the driver's seat. "Gotta get gas first. I love this car, I really do. But it drinks gas like a drunken fish." He said with a chuckle. He wasn't going to get into it. He really wasn't. But they were both to blame. Was it too much to ask that they at least pretend to get along? Especially here?

Sam nodded. "Okay." He said quietly, not wanting to get into it either. Dean would just agree with their father and the last thing he needed to hear was that Dean figured he was a retarded wimp too. There was no way Dean could understand what was going on between him and his father any way. And every time Sam tried to explain he got accused of being a whiner.

Translation. It didn't matter what Sam thought, he was just along for the ride, so sit down shut up, buckle up and say yes sir. Even if it meant spending the next 4 and a half years being treated like a half wit. Hell he might as well live up to the expectations they had of him. Nothing he did was gonna change their minds anyway.

"Stop it Sam." Dean said. He could feel his brother pouting across the car. ANd he was in some serious pouting right now. "Just...stop it. You both got your way. You're getting escorted to the library, and you're not being watched."

Sam gave his brother a look. "Sorry." He said sarcastically. "I'll just turn those emotions off right now. Here I thought keeping my mouth shut about it was good enough. Guess not. "

"Dude, stop it." Dean said, shaking his head. "I don't know what it is with you two. Oh I know what you'll say, that he doesn't understand,a nd he refuses to treat you as your age. And I know what he'll say, that you refuse to act your age and he's Dad and he says so. But come on, always at each other's throats?"

"Translation, shut up and suck it up Sam, I'm tired of hearing it." Sam said as he turned to face the window. "I can't lay down and let him walk all over me like you."

Dean's jaw twitched. "I don't get off on making wherever we're staying into a warzone." He said quietly. "And it's both your fault."

Sam glared at his brother a moment then looked straight ahead. "Duly noted." Sam didn't get off on it either. But he was tired of being put down all the time by his supposedly loving father. He didn't belong with his family any more than he belonged with the normal world out there.

"Dammit, Sam! I'm sick of the fighting. And it's all the time." Dean said. "You constantly wish we could be 'normal,' well fighting this much is NOT normal!"

"What I want is to be treated like I'm not some burden you two have to haul around with you.what you are asking me to do isto shut up and take it and not even talk about it to you because even that is too much information for you. You know what...fine. The only person it matters to is me anyway. Just freakin drive already. At least I can do research to suit someone."

Dean's hands tightened on the wheel as he drove, probably faster than he should have. He couldn't wait for this job to be over and they could just leave. The quarters were obviously too close for Dad and Sam, at least every other job Dad wasn't around as much.

Sam fell silent, staring out the window until they got to the local library, then he got out of the car with equal silence and strode inside. He didn't know what he had expected really. Dean would never say a word to counter anything his father said. John was still better than James Bond in his brother's eyes. And if Sam thought about him as anyone other than his father, he could agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, John was Dean's Hero, and Dean was Sam's. And both of them seemed to be in agreement about the boy. At least in Sam's eyes. And that was what broke Sam's heart.

He asked the librarian if he could use the microfische, and followed her to the back and listened politely as she explained the libraries rules and how it functioned.

Dean was keeping a weather eye on Sam. At least that's what he'd tell his father. Instead he went into the multimedia room and watched what he was getting into. Then he found Sam. "Sam, there's dancing." He said. "In the movie. Dancing and a LOT of singing." He said as he scanned what Sam was reading. "Sure you don't want to switch?"

"Yeah, like I need anymore humiliation. If you'll remember I have more foot than you do... which means I will trip over it more than you would. Trust me right now if I had to be up on stage I would commit suicide." He said as he printed out a few of the older news paper articles.

"My life is over." Dean said dramatically as he gathered the pages from the printer. "at least it is if the other guy gets sick." He sighed. "Fine, I'll be humiliated for you."

"You aren't being humiliated for me... this is all your own humiliation. I wasn't assigned to drama... I was assigned the science club." Sam pointed out as he went to an older still news paper clipping.

"Fine, split hairs." Dean said with a chuckle. "Okay, I'm going back to my movie. Let me know when you're done." It was research for him, so he knew what he was getting into because of his dad, and if the other guy fell through.

Sam dove into the research, it was the one thing he was confident in. His ability to research was never questioned. What he came up with was rarely second guessed. John had taught him well. How to be thorough the first time through. In another hour he had a pile of news paper clippings that went back to before his fathers day at the school. He had gone back several years before the first suicide they had found record of at the school.

He gathered up the papers and headed for the A/V room and sat down beside his brother as Nicely Nicely was singing 'sit down you're rockin the boat.'

"You see what I mean?" Dean said as he watched slumped down in his chair. "So what did you find?"

"So which guy are you? " He asked as he sorted through the papers to put them in order, and chuckled softly as Dean pointed out Nathan Detroit to him. "Well the year before the first suicide, there was a local girl who went missing from one of the mixed parties. They say that she was involved in a relationship with one of the cadets but they don't say who."

"Missing? Like our kind of missing or run away because I'm seventeen and know better missing?" Dean asked. It could happen. And was usually more likely than their kind of missing. Though the fact that they were here upped the chances of it being their kind of missing. Their dad had a nose for this sort of thing.

"Hard to say, we'll have to see if Dad will let us out from under his nose this weekend to go and check out the locals. Maybe they know more about her, but it just fits the profile. Major happening in the right time frame, connected with the school."

"Let us?" Dean said with a chuckle. "We'll just go." He toed the line very closely with his father. But he was still an ace at sneaking out. Hell, that's how he met half the girls he did!

Sam gave him a look. "Yeah, okay. We'll just go." If Dean was willing to rebel a little, that was probably good for him, even if Sam knew that right now their father would wig about it.

"You want to think of me as the good son, go ahead." Dean said. "But the only difference between me and you is I don't mouth off and he doesn't catch me."

"The difference is he believes in you and isn't watching you all the time." Sam said with a sigh. "And we aren't getting into this again. Because it always comes back to it being my fault some how and I don't need it from you too."

"Sam, in this respect, he's like a normal parent. You just have to know how to play around him." Dean pointed out. But he dropped the subject. If Sam was convinced that Dean was the perfect son, nothing Dean was going to say was going to change his mind. "How about after lights out tonight?"

"Can't very well go scouting out the locals connected to that girl after lights out." He said. Sam didn't think Dean was the perfect son, (merely the perfect brother) but he knew full well that John was convinced he was. The responsible one, the one that John could count on.

"Sure we can." Dean said. "People Dad's age aren't ruled by the same bedtimes that we are. Bet we'll find some alumni if we try. We'll see what we find, then cut a class tomorrow." Since his rehearsals started tomorrow and as much as he wanted to get out of them, he knew he couldn't.

"Okay." Sam said. "You know Dad will find out right? That we cut class, at the same time?" He knew that would mean trouble for his brother. Figured maybe this time he could take the heat for it too. After all, things couldn't get any worse between him and John.

"Dude, I'm a senior. I'm expected to cut class. We'll do it during your free period." Dean said, ever watching out for Sam.

Sam gave Dean another look "You don't need to draw fire off of me you know." He said seeing that Dean was trying to keep Sam from getting in trouble. That was about the only time Dean got in any real trouble, when he was covering for Sam.

"Sure I do. It's in that handbook I told you about." Dean said good naturedly. "Along with reminding you to tie your shoes and humiliating you in front of girls."

"Yeah... " Sam said then started laughing. "Oh look you get married at the end of the play." He said pointing at the television. He knew that Dean would take the fall for him if it came to something major with their father. Or any other official for that matter. Most days that knowledge would be enough to satisfy Sam's insecurities. Right now though the raw edges he and his father left on one another made him look at it in a darker light. It made him feel that he was a burden to his brother. Or that Dean didn't think he could handle it either.

"About the only time that's going to happen." Dean said about getting married. He was already anti commitment, at seventeen. "So you know what else is in that handbook? Little brother must do big brother's math homework, cause he's better at it and it bores big brother to death."

Sam laughed. "Are you sure? I'm the family idiot remember. I might not be responsible enough to do my own home work much less yours." He said with a dark humor.

Dean scowled. "Sam, come on. You enjoy that math stuff." Sam was the brainchild of the family, no matter how their dad made him feel. Something else for Dean to work on with Sam, it seemed. "And you're good at it. I see numbers...and after a while my head begins to swim and then I start thinking about something else and it's all down hill from there."

"That's the problem. you don't focus. You're just as smart as me, probably smarter, you just don't know how to focus." At least not with out there being a monster or girl involved. "I'll help you when we get home tonight though."

"Thanks." Dean said as he turned the video off. "Well, might as well get back. Then we can plot our escape tonight."

"Yeah, okay." Sam said as he gathered his stuff together. "Wouldn't it be better to make Dad check it out? He's old enough to have gone to school with her... besides it might give him something to do other than drink."

"Yeah, it would. And he needs something better to do than drink." Dean said, eyes tinged with worry, and the stress that worry brought. "Okay, we'll go show him it, and maybe it'll smooth over some feathers."

"It's worth a shot." Sam said. Maybe show their father he wasn't as stupid as he thought he was. Funny thing was that he didn't think anything would prove that to his father. Of course he would be tossed into the next fight with a demon as though he were just as competant as the rest of the family then treated like a moron once it was over and done.

"And hey, just remember. Dad signed you up for football. I get to be in a musical." Dean said as he returned the tape to the media desk and fished out his keys.

"Yeah, not liking the idea of football." Just something else for his father to hold against him, not being any good at football. "Thinking I might pass. What's he going to do, yell at me again?"

Dean had never considered that. He'd auditioned for the play because that's where his father figured he was needed for this case. End of story. Sam? Sam liked to challenge his authority a bit more openly. "So what if you suck at it?" Dean said. "Then you'll sit on the bench and learn to flirt with cheerleaders."

"What cheerleaders? We go to an all boys school. And if there were cheerleaders, they would be vaccuous, stuck up and too busy focusing on the seniors that ARE good at it. "

"That's why I said you'd practice. And there are cheerleaders. From the girls school. The same ones that are playing the girl parts in the play." Dean said with a shrug.

"I've had plenty of practice at being laughed at, thanks. I'll pass." Sam said. "Come on. Let's get back to the school before Dad blows a gasket. That vein on his forehead is throbbing almost all the time now. "

"You noticed that too?" Dean said with a chuckle. "Welll, this job isn't doing anything for his blood pressure, but he's Dad. He'll be fine. And he'll get over it."

"Most of it anyway. Some of it he will be bringing up until we are in our 40s and looking for a nice Happy Hunters rest home to put him in." Sam said with a laugh.

"Ah yes." Dean said. "Where arts and crafts involve amulet making and melting down silver into bullets. Memory games involve demons and creatures of the night, and it definitely is NOT a low salt facility."

"That's the one." Sam said as they made their way toward the door. "JD is served with breakfast, tequila with lunch and dessert is jello shots." Cause it was a given that hunters were hard drinking men. With what they saw on a daily basis they deserved to be.

Dean laughed. "We might have to start our own." He said as they quietly came in. It wasn't lights out, but no need to cause attention. He knocked on his father's door and went in with Sam. "We've got a lot of interesting research for you to look over."

John looked up from the knife he was honing. "What have you got?" He asked and set it aside to give his boys his full attention.

Sam started explaining, handing over the list of deaths of students and teachers over the years. "About a year before the suicides began there was a girl that went missing. She was 15 and seeing one of the students here at the academy. I think she is our point of origin."

John looked over the printouts from the local news, shaking his head. "I don't know... it doesn't sound right. We don't even know if this girl died or was a runaway."

"Well it's the best we've got so far." Dean said. "And it's a pretty good connection."

"Except of course she wasn't seen at this school the last known day of her existence." John pointed out and went back to honing his knife as he talked. "There's no body, and there's been enough additions and rebuilding that if there was a body it would have been found. No trace at all."

"Yeah... you're right" Sam said in a strangely subdued tone. "I'm gonna go do my homework. Funny that they still call it homework here" He said and started to walk out the door. His father didnt even trust him to do research. That cut deeper than anything else. He knew he was right. He knew that there was something going on with that disappearance. But there would be no convincing his father of it.

Dean watched Sam's posture fall and looked back at John. "Dad, it's good research." He said. "And I think Sam's onto something. I really do. The least you could do is check it out with your connections, don't you think?"

"Dean... we can't afford to waste time on false leads. Yeah I can see where it would look good on the surface but we need something more concrete here. Three lives are at stake."

"Well, it's the best we've come up with. And I think it's a good lead. Do you have anything else?" Dean asked pointedly.

Sam closed the door quietly behind him and went back to thier room, not wanting to listen anymore.

"Dean, that's enough. I said no, it's not this. You forget I was at school here around that time. "

"And did you know what was out there? What was really out there? Or were you concentrating on drill team, homework and dorm buddies?" Dean pointed out. "I think Sam's on the right track, I really do. And it's the only thing we've got to go on."

"That's enough." John said. "We'll look into it but it's a dead end. " He said more to end the conversation than anything else. "Look, for her to be our ghost, she would have to still be on the property. Which would mean someone would have had to kill her and bury her. That just didn't happen. "

Dean knew when he was being shut down. "Yes sir." He said and clenched his jaw. "Good night." He said and headed back to his room. "Okay he's not going for it. But you're onto something. I say we go off on our own on this one." He said to Sam. It didn't matter what his father said, Sam's research fit. And John couldn't have possibly known everything that was going on in the school. He wouldn't have known to pay attention then. John was still normal.

"Yeah, okay." Sam said as he went through Dean's math homework like it was nothing. "You are going to need to recopy this, or they'll know it isn't yours." He said, not worried about the case anymore. The only reason he did any of this was to please his father and it never worked, so he didn't really want to think about it any more.

"Sam, I'm serious." Dean said. "If pattern holds true, people are going to start dying. Dad's not on the right path, we are. So we have to do this ourselves." This was what it was all about, right? Saving people.

"Yeah okay." Sam said again and handed Dean the sheet of math equations. "We'll look into it. Don't forget to copy that over."

"Copying." Dean said as he studiously copied the homework. "So tomorrow I'll head over to the girls' school, see what I can pick up from there. Girls like to gossip, right?"

"Every one of them I ever talked to. Not sure what they will know since it was 30 years ago but what the hell. Besides, you can't get out of practice with the girls. It's bad for your health." Sam said, forcing a smile.

"Exactly." Dean agreed as he finished and put the homework away. "And besides, it might be an urban legend in the girls' school. Never know. And our whole lives are based on chasing urban legends. They usually have some truth behind them deep down."

"True." Sam said, but their father was the expert on these things. Other hunters came to John Winchester for insight and direction. He had shot it down. So it had deserved to be shot down. That's what he told himself anyway. Pushing the nagging feeling that he was right out of his mind at the moment, because that would only lead to rage, and his brother couldn't handle another fight between him and John.

"Look, until Dad comes up with a better theory---and he hasn't---I say we go with this one." Dean said. Sam was right, Dean couldn't handle another fight between Sam and John. But he also wasn't going to throw a perfectly good theory out the window to avoid it either. They were here primarily to do a freaking job, and that's what Dean was going to do, ignoring the buzzing at the back of his mind that said it wasn't quite like John to dismiss Sam that out of hand.

Sam smiled a little at Dean. His brother had faith in him. As much as he wanted his father to believe in him, it was dean that mattered in the end "okay... we'll check it out."


	3. Chapter 3

Brad was loving it. Rehearsing a musical was right up his alley, even if he did get teased by his bunkmates about it being gay to like it so much. He knew they were teasing. And the one that wasn't found out why no one else really messed with Brad Halloran or his little brother, no matter how geeky the kid was. He knew that the very idea of it all made his new best friend squirm. Dean was so uncomfortable with it that it almost made him laugh. Would have except that he figured that their friendship was a bit too new for that.

Only problem was, their Nathan Detroit was late to rehearsals, and it was the cheese cake scene. So Dean was having to stand in.

Mr O'Grady, the director and music teacher, called for places. And frowned when Dean came out. "Winchester, stop looking like you're on a death march!" He called out. "Nathan is nervous, not resigned to his fate!"

Dean rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Yeah well, he should be. He does end up married by the end of this." He said, and a couple of the other people laughed around him as he shook himself out and started with the scene. He had the script in hand, most of the others did as well (save Brad), but he hadn't spent too much time looking at it. He was busy researching other things to waste time on memorizing things he probably wouldn't need anyway.

Just as Skye (Brad) was betting Nathan(Dean) that he couldn't remember what color of tie he had on that day, there was a sickening thumping sound, and a lot of startled yells, as Cadet Captain David Graham dangled at stage left from a thick rope.

Brad didn't bother to think, feel or otherwise process the situation, he was on his feet and moving, neck and neck with Dean as they raced across the stage to their class mate.

Dean scaled a piece of scenery up onto the rafters and yelled down to Brad. "Boost him up!" He said. He needed slack on the rope. Short of a knife, which wasn't available (his father had the afternoon off and had confiscated all their knives for sharpening and cleaning, he was known to do that), he'd have to untie the rope. Everyone else was still in disarray, screaming, calling for someone to call the paramedics, the school nurse and (for some reason) the headmaster.

Brad grabbed David by the legs and lifted him upward, giving Dean the slack he needed. He looked upward watching his friend work to save the kid's life, then he frowned, seeing something that he knew 

he couldn't possibly be seeing. "What the hell?" He said out loud seeing the girl, standing there, looking like an out take from an old movie. Then she flickered in and out of view, and he nearly stumbled back but stopped himself, knowing that if he reacted he could cost his classmate his life.

Dean looked over, seeing the flickering out of the corner of his eye. "No, no. This is bullshit!" He said as he struggled with the knot holding the rope to the rafter, until it finally gave and the rope flopped to the stage floor. He pointed at the spirit, getting a good look before it disappeared. "You, I am SO going to get you." He said to the spirit before carefully jumping down from the rafter. "How's he doing?" He said as he hunched down to stabilize David's neck.

"He's breathing." Brad said. "You saw her too?" He whispered quietly, looking up at the scaffolding. "Oh god." He breathed as she reappeared, and shivered at the the look she gave him.

"Brad?" It was Jimmy. His brother was coming across the stage, more to escape the chaos than anything else. "Is he going to be alright?" He asked.

The spirit blinked out but not before releasing a sand bag from above.

"No!" Brad yelled and dove at his brother, taking him to the floor just as the sand bag landed heavily where his little brother had been standing. It grazed his back as it came down. "That's gonna hurt in the morning." He grumbled, barely noticing really.

Dean watched as Brad dove across the stage. A familiar movement. He'd done it for Sam often enough that it was instinctual, subconscious, and natural. He never even thought about it anymore, and he had the scars to prove it too. And Brad didn't think about it either. Dean reached over and rubbed David's breastbone hard, seeing the young man flinch, and curl around even in his unconsciousness as the paramedics came in. "He's okay." He was breathing,and he'd just proved he could move his arms and legs a bit. Higher brain functions too. Amazing what you picked up in ERs and from Bobby and Pastor Jim over the years. "How's Jimmy? You two all right?" Avoiding the original question right now.

"Yeah." Brad said as he got up and stretched out the kinks in his back from the bag and reached out a hand to help his brother up and started to look him over.

"Brad, stop it I'm fine." He protested trying to shrug away.



"James... cut it out. Seriously, cut it out."

Dean backed away from David once the paramedics came. "Well, looks like I get out of rehearsal." He said with a dry chuckle as he watched the scene, eyes drifting up toward the rafters, though he didn't see anything anymore. "This is certainly a fucked up day."

"No doubt." Brad said once he was convinced his little brother was alright. He had endured a lot to keep that kid amongst the living, and he wasn't going to let him be taken away by some ... ghost... with an attitude. "Go back to your dorm room until they get around to asking questions. Nothing you can do here." He told the younger boy.

"No!" Jimmy insisted.

"That's an order, Cadet." Brad barked with a glare at his brother.

Dean chuckled. "I'll have to try that on Sam." He said as Jimmy stomped off. "Come on." He said to Brad. "It'll be about a half hour until the cops and social workers get here, and I need a soda." And some air. That was some freaky shit. Wasn't every day that he saw someone try to hang himself in the middle of rehearsal. But finally, as bad as it was to say, something concrete on why they were here.

"Yeah." Brad said. "Let's get the hell out of here." He was still shaken, and looking up at the rafters expecting to see the ghost again. It couldn't be a ghost, could it? Ghosts weren't real. But if he had been imagining it, then what had send that sand bag down at his brother?

"That's one." Dean said once they were in the empty hallway. Keeping his voice down. "I'd heard the rumors. Three suicides or attempts a year. One for drama, one for science, and one for the jocks. Did I hear right?"

Brad nodded. "You saw her too, didn't you?" He said. "And it didn't surprise you. What the hell is going on here?" He asked. "Is that thing causing all the suicides?"



Dean wasn't too good at plausible deniability yet. Eventually he'd be one of the best at it. And lying to friends, well, he'd never been in one place long enough to really practice, and his other friends were all hunters. So he sighed. "Dude, you really want to know? I mean, some people, most people, are better off just not knowing."

"Man, that thing just tried to kill my little brother. I want a piece of it. If there... are... pieces to be had. That is so not fair if they can't be touched but can manipulate levers." Brad was furious. He contained it well but he wanted blood.

Dean nodded. He'd feel the same way. Exactly the same way. "All right. It's a ghost. I'm not sure who yet, but once we figure out where the bitch is buried, we're going to torch her and that'll be that." He said. "Need to sit?"

"I need air, come on. I don't want to be anywhere near here when they start asking questions." Brad said as he took the lead. He led they out behind the buildings and down a slope to the place where the upper classmen tended to come to party. "Okay... so... fill me in."

Dean sighed and sat down on the ground. "What do you mean, fill you in?" He asked. He was treading dangerous territory now, the big family secret. The one that could get their father locked up in the looney bin, and him and Sam on the run from social services if it got out.

"You weren't surprised... you threatened it... you knew about the suicides and that wasn't just from tall tales around here. Did I fail to mention my father started out life as an MP?"

Dean shook his head. "Promise you won't think I'm crazy? Or worse, turn me in?"

"I wouldn't turn you in." Brad said. "Friends don't do that. I know we haven't know each other long but, man... seriously."

"All right. You asked for it. It's a ghost. Which is nothing more than the left over psychic remains of a human who can't move on. Maybe she didn't receive a proper burial. Maybe something traumatic and/or evil happened to her. Either way she's out for vengeance. And she's taking it out on random people, because the time has passed for actual revenge. But she's got a pattern. Drama club. Science club. Sports." Dean said, staring straight ahead. He knew, to normal people, he sounded completely psycho. 

Delusional. Possibly dangerous. "She's not going to stop until someone stops her. I happen to know how. Sam and Dad too. So that's what we're going to do."

"Okay... so what do we do?" He asked as began to process it. He had seen the pattern. He had been at this school most of his life really. 10 out of 12 years of school. "And why didn't anyone else see her?"

"I don't know. I don't know if it's because no one else was looking for her. I mean, we noticed her and she quickly dropped a sandbag on your brother." Dean pointed out. But Brad would bear watching. Just in case. Dean was undecided if he'd tell his father he'd seen the spirit. It could go well, or it could go badly, John was unpredictable lately, another concern for Dean.

"Yeah... okay... so ... we have to figure out who she was and where the bits of her are hiding. " He was sure that he had just walked through the looking glass. "She didn't succeed today. No one died... is she going to move on, or is she going to try and kill David or Jimmy again?"

"I don't know. It's a break in pattern." Dean said. "David, probably not. He's off to a nice long stay in a nutward after all. Jimmy, he might be distraction. You're seriously not wigged out with this? I mean, I grew up with it. Takes a lot to wig me out."

"No... I'm wigged out. Very much wigged out. But I don't have time to really deal with it. That bitch tried to kill my little brother. I can deal with being freaked out after I make sure she can't hurt him. "

"All right." Dean said. "Then let's go see what we can find out. The spirit is a girl. Sam and I were working on a theory that it was someone reported missing a while back. And...even better...we know what she looks like." Not that records would be very good. And not like it would be easy to sort through any pictures they found due to what she looked like in death. "Let's go find Sam."

"He's involved in this ghost hunting too? I think I would be bald or prematurely white headed if Jimmy had any idea this even existed much less got involved."

"It's a family business." Dean said, content to let Brad think it was just ghost. Some people didn't need to know that there were werewolves, fairies, vampires, demons...they just didn't need to know. "I don't know, unavoidable. We tried though." Until Sam found Dad's journal. And Dean still wasn't convinced that it had been left behind accidentally.



"Wow..." he said, shaking his head. "And I thought growing up with a military family was wild. Okay... Lead on. I'm in for the long haul on this one. They'll be looking for us about now anyway. Wanting to ask us all sorts of questions."

"The answers are easy. He jumped, we got him down. Probably when I was untying him I disturbed a sandbag or something. Believe me, they're not ready to hear about ghosts and spirits. You tell them what you saw, you're going to be David's roommate." Dean said as he got up and they headed back to the theater.

"Good point. I 'have said anything to you except you seemed to see her too." He said. "Thought I was hallucinating until I saw her move the lever. "

"Well, you weren't." He said as they went back to the theater and answered the normal questions. Wasn't like they were suspects, and no one had seen any suicidal behavior in David at all. "Let's get Sam."

"Yeah... you find Sam, I'm gonna check on Jimmy. I'll meet you at the library." It was easy to come up with excuses to meet there. No one questioned kids going to the library. Usually they were afraid it would scare them off.

"I'll be there." Dean said. And Sam was in the library anyway. He sat down next to Sam at the table, luckily he was alone. "I saw her." He said softly as he opened up a random book.

Sam looked up. "Are you alright?" He asked. He had heard about the commotion in the auditorium but knew that he needed to stay put and wait for Dean to come to him.

"Kid tried to hang himself. But he'll be all right, he gets some time in the hospital, then a rubber room after, but he'll be all right." Dean said. "I'm fine. Had to dig out a big ass splinter though." He said with a grin, from scaling scenery and a backdrop. "You're right. Female, probably around my age at one point. Long hair. Then the rest was your normal shivering quivering static-y ghost."



"Well it's a start.Think you could recognize her picture if we found it somewhere?" He asked. "Bet we could find old year books from the girls school somewhere."

Dean grinned. "That requires a field trip." He said. "I bet I can get us in and we'll look around their archives." There would be more yearbooks there than in the boys school.

"You already have a girl at the school willing to risk getting in trouble for letting boys in? Dude, that is amazing." Sam said, then looked up. "Brad's coming over. Subject change."

Brad sat down across from Sam. "Don't bother." He said with a wave of his hand. "I was there, and I know what I saw. Seems to me you guys could use someone who's been around here a bit more than you, right? Besides, the bitch attacked my brother, I get a piece of her too."

Sam simply nodded, accepting that this was the attitude of a good big brother. After all his was the best, so anyone that had similar attitudes had to be a good big brother. "Yeah well... so long as Dad doesn't find out, it's all good."

"We won't tell Dad." Dean said. "Anymore than we're telling him we're following your theory." He pointed out. "So, Brad, up to a field trip to the girls' school? I want to torch this thing before she drives another kid to suicide."

Brad was confused by the family dynamics but he wasn't about to say anything. Right then, he had too much invested in being a part of this. Including a long scraping bruise forming down his back. That was going to be annoying in the showers.

Dean flipped through some of the handwritten pages Sam had. "Okay. I'm going to go check on Dad, you guys meet me at the car, okay?"

"Right." Sam said. "Come on. He won't be long." He gathered his stuff and got up heading for the library door, with Brad right on his heels. "How's your brother?" Sam asked. He had said the kid was attacked. "Did he see her too?"



"He's alright. Pissed at me, but alright. And no ... he didn't see her. I was too busy knocking him to the ground for him to get a clear look."

Dean knocked on his dad's door and came in. "Dad?" He said. "Nearly a suicide during rehearsal today. That's one."

John looked up from his journal, tucking something into place before closing it. "Nearly? What happened?" He asked looking at his son with tired eyes.

"I cut him down." Dean said and carefully sat across from his father. "Actually I untied him, seeing as I didn't have my knife. It's all sharpened now?"

"Yeah." John said. "Bad timing I guess." He said and handed Dean his blade. "Did you see or hear anything to help us out?" He asked.

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "Saw the spirit myself. Female. Young. Long hair. Dated clothes. Definitely dead. Definitely mean."

"She didn't hurt you, did she? Is the boy going to be alright?" He asked, wondering if this would count as one down or if she would still have to make an actual kill to fulfill what ever drove her to make the kills how and where she did.

"He's going to be fine." Dean said, not mentioning the splinter he'd had to pull out. Wasn't important. "Course, I was his understudy, so we'll see how that goes." That was the most terrifying aspect. Not the ghost, or her murderous intentions. But what would happen if the show did, indeed, go on. "Just saying that Sam's theory is starting to make sense now, don't you think?"

"That it was a teenaged girl, possibly since you saw her, but that doesn't mean anything happened here during the time I went to school. I would have known if a girl had disappeared. It would be all over the news."



"You watched a lot of news then?" Dean asked, and fell silent at his father's glare. "We'll trace it back further then. You sure you're okay?" Dad was...more tired looking than Dean had ever seen him. Including the three day battle with a poltergeist.

"Yeah. Just haven't been sleeping well. Might crash early tonight. You boys gonna be alright with out the old man breathing down your necks for an evening? Still get the homework done and everything?"

"Dad, even when you're breathing down my neck, I still don't get my homework done." Dean said with a grin as he stood up. "However, I'll make sure Sam does his. Good enough?"

"Probably as good as I am going to get." John said with a chuckle. "Good... I'll see you boys in the morning. It's Saturday. Go ahead and sleep in. Maybe we'll go into town for chow."

"Okay, sounds good." Dean said. "See you later." Something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it, not yet. It wasn't that his dad was mean. It was just that he wasn't borderline cuddly. Ever. Until about now. Weird.

"Yeah... Okay. see you in the morning, music man." John attempted to tease his oldest boy.

Dean winced good naturedly at that. "See you." He said as he headed back out to the car, and wiped the concerned look off his face as best he could. "Okay, now we get to go to the girls' school. Perfect way to end what so far has been a shitty day."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're obsessed with girls."

"Just wait...the bug will bite you too. Does everyone." Brad pointed out. "Until then you get to deal with rest of us that have got it bad."

"Could be worse. I could be obsessed with death emo rock." Dean said with a laugh as he unlocked the car. "And shit like that. Girls is normal. I just happen to feel I have to make up for all the others who aren't obsessed. Philanthropy and all."



"I could deal with death rock emo. At least then there would be a break from Dad's mullet rock." He said in exasperation as he got into the car.

"Dude, there will never be a break from mullet rock." Dean said with a smirk.

"I don't know, might want to slip a little Guys and Dolls in there now. Looks like you're the Nathan Detroit now, since I doubt the funny farm will furlough David out for a few days."

Sam laughed. "Guess when we are done at the girls' school we go back to the library and watch it again, huh?" He teased. "You're in a musical. Thinking I am gonna like this place after all."

"Dude, shut your mouth." Dean said with a scowl. The last thing he wanted to be reminded of as he slipped mullet rock into the tape player and started heading toward the girls' school. "So I know a girl there, Anna, who does work study in the library. She'll get us in."

"Does Anna know you're singing in a musical?" Sam asked, unable to resist the pull of the taunt. It was in the little brother genetic code to harrass his brother. He was sure it was a physiological imperative.

"Dude, tell her and I swear I'm going to do something to do." Dean said as he pulled into the parkinglot. "We're just here to do a project. I don't know, we're on the year book committee and we want to go all retro or something."

"What? You gonna put nair in my shampoo again? Dude, they already took all my hair. Not much left you can do to me." Sam said, not that he would say anything to the girl. It was one thing to harrass his brother, it was another to actually humiliate him. "And if you are going for the geek approach... might want to let me do the talking. It's unfamiliar territory for you."

Dean laughed. "All right. You're on point." Dean said as he pulled into the parking lot by the library. "He's a much better geek than me." He said to Brad.

"And strangely doesn't seem worried about it." Brad said, not getting the geek crowd. They didnt make sense to him, but that's okay. it wasn't his little brother.



"You get the introductions though. I don't know the girl...and I'm lousy with girls."

Dean laughed. "All right, I'll get the introductions." He said as he led them into the library. "Hey." He said, leaning against the counter where a slim red head was scanning returned books. "I have a big favor to ask. For a perfectly good cause." He said with a grin.

"Why do I doubt that, Dean?" She said with a big smile. "Whats the favor?" She asked.

Brad shook his head as Dean shmoozed the librarian. The boy had a gift with the girls, that was for certain.

"It's a good cause. My little brother is doing something with year books, and we wondered if we could have a look at your school's archive. See? Perfectly good cause." Dean said.

"Yeah, I'm on the yearbook committee this year and we have been talking about going retro with the year book but all of our old ones are seriously boring. Was wondering if you had some here we could look at."

Anna looked for the head librarian and didn't see her as she grabbed the keys to the vault. "All right." She said with a grin. "Don't mark them up or anything, because I'll get in trouble."

"Would I get you in trouble?" Dean asked Anna with a laugh.

"Hopefully not over year books and hopefully this weekend." She said with a wider grin as she unlocked the room.

Sam rolled his eyes as he went into the room. "Thanks." He said. "I won't mark anything. Is there a xerox I can use for the really good pages?"



"Sure, off in the corner. It's the spare one. It's old, and slow, but it's all ready to go." Anna said as Brad and Dean followed Sam in and closed the door behind them.

"See? Told you. Easy." Dean said.

"Like her?" Brad said with a laugh.

"I'll let you know on Monday." Dean said with a smirk.

"Dude that is so wrong." Sam said shaking his head as he went through the shelf of year books, looking for the years their father was attending. "Okay, I figure it's one of these, so you two look through there and tell me if anyone in there is our ghost."

Dean sat down at a small table with his share of the books and flipped through one. "Ever notice in black and white, with the same hair style, they all kinda look alike?" He said.

"That ... isn't helpful." Sam said with a sigh. "But yeah. This may not be as easy as we thought. "

"Oh hey, swim team!" Dean said with a grin as he flipped to the activities section, which made Brad laugh.

"They might as well have been swimming in mumus." Brad said with a chuckle. "Check out the swim caps." They were bantering, but they were looking as Brad flipped through his yearbook. "Hey, I think this is her." He said, laying the book on the table and pointing out a picture in the candid section.

Dean looked over. "Yeah, looks like her." He said. "She was kinda cute."

"No captions." Brad grumbled. "Don't have a name."



Sam went to get another copy of the same year. "Okay keep that one open and we compare all the girls till we figure it out."

Brad laid it out flat as they looked at another copy. "I don't see her." He said.

"Me either." Dean said. "It's in the candid part. Who says she even went to this school?"

"Or wasn't one of the fifty girls listed in the 'not pictured' part." Brad said, rubbing his eyes. "My head hurts." For Sam and Dean, this might be another day in the life. For Brad, this was one helluva weird, long day.

"Okay so maybe she started school late that year... missed picture day. We do all the time." He said and went to the next year book. He was determined to prove his theory right. Have hard core evidence to show his father.

"We'll find her." Dean said, writing down some of the names. "They keep track of alumni, right? Most of the time? We could go ask some of these people if they remember someone going missing or something."

Sam nodded and went to photo copy the image they had found. It at least gave them something to go on. Something they could show their dad at least so that he would know what to look for. "Yeah okay. I remember Dad said the librarian at our school has been there since he was in school, maybe she remembers."

"We'll check that out. Or more to the point, Sam'll check that out. Librarians like him. Now library assistants...they like me." Dean said with a smirk.

Brad chuckled. "You two are unbelievable. You're so calm, like this is every day. And I guess, for you, it is."



"Dude, that's because you are always distracting the library assistants." Sam pointed out to his brother. "And yeah... I guess it is every day for us. I mean we don't deal with them every day but we've always known about that sort of thing."

"It's not a big deal." Dean said. "I mean, there's a lot of stuff out there, but most everyone else doesn't enounter it. It's sporadic enough that we move all over because of it."

"You move all over the place hunting down ghosts... that's wild. No wonder your dad is different than the other instructors here. It's kinda cool though. Be cooler if the damned ghost hadn't tried to kill my brother, but what the hell."

Dean laughed. "You're taking the existence of murderous spirits kinda well." Dean said. "Do we need to have you drug tested?" He was only half joking.

"I'm an actor, remember?" He said with a nervous laugh. "Bad combination, actor and military training. Hide behind a mask while doing what needs to be done. Once it's over, and I am sure she isn't going after Jimmy... then I can deal. Right now... no time."

"That's basically our lives." Dean said with a chuckle as they gathered up the copies they'd made. "Okay, so let's get back to the school before curfew. Though I wouldn't mind being locked in the library with Anna, not quite the same if you two are with me."

Sam shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, let's go. You two have to get your beauty sleep anyway. " Sam pointed out. "Lines to rehearse, songs to sing."

"Dude, my memory is very long." Dean said. "Might want to watch out for payback down the road. Like once your hair finally grows back and all."

"You do and I'll tell them all about you singing and dancing on stage." Sam said. "Who knows... might even take pictures... news paper clippings... keep the play bill."

"Now, see, if you hadn't made such a fuss, it wouldn't be good blackmail." Brad said with a laugh. "It's not blackmail for me afterall. I'll be giving out autographs."



"Nair. Itching powder. Shortsheeting." Dean mumbled.

"I wonder if the next school we go to has one of those news papers where they do articles on new kids. Bet they would love that." Sam wouldn't humiliate his brother like that really... at least so long as the nair and itching powder stayed far away.

"Still say we should trade little brothers." Dean said to Brad, only joking of couse.

Brad laughed. "Sure, they can suck the marrow out of your bones if he gets sick again. I'll trade ya." Not that he would of course but he knew that Dean wasn't serious either.

"Okay, Sam, looks like I'm going to keep you after all." Dean said with a laugh. Not that he wouldn't do it for Sam, he would. In a heart beat, the same way Brad did for his brother.

"Yeah, like you would get rid of me." Sam said. "Who else would give you a run for your money?" Sam sometimes had normal insecurity issues, but never doubted his brother's love. Not even for a heart beat.

"Yup, I'm stuck with him." He said with a laugh. Then Dean turned to Brad as he drove. "Seriously, dude, you can't tell anyone. First off, they'll think you're crazy. Then they'll come after us, and that would be a bad scene."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to out you." Brad said. "Don't worry about that. Besides I'm not into hospital stays and you know they would figure I had cracked from one too many suicides going on or something. "

"Sounds plausible." Dean said. "But since you'll be labeled as nutso too, guess we're safe. Welcome to the club."



Brad laughed. "So what do we do now?" He had no idea how to follow up on this. "I mean we have a face and no name, no way of knowing how to find the body to deal with it or what ever is required to make her stop killing."

"Good old fashioned investigating." Dean said. "We ask around. See if we can piece it together."

"Okay. well... let me know what to do and how to go about it. " He had a vested interest in getting rid of this bitch. He had gone through a lot to keep his little brother alive. A lot of pain and recovery of his own. It was worth it, he would do it again if it came to it. But he would be damned if he would let some dead and rotting spoiled bitch of a ghost undo what he had gone through.

"Don't worry, figure we'll need all the inside help we can get." Dean said. "Besides, for once, gotta admit, it's...relieving to not have to lie all the time to at least one person."

"This means you guys aren't going to be around all year doesn't it... always traveling and looking for ghosties and ghoulies? You know you have to keep in touch some how right?"

Dean grinned. "I don't know. Might push the issue. It's my senior year after all." Dean said. "But thanks." Usually they just...disappeared.

"You know... I would... want to hear what you were up to and all." He said, but truth be known he would be wondering if his friend were alive or dead.

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out." Dean said with a shrug. It was a new concept to him, but one that he didn't mind, strangely enough. He'd gotten used to the con, the isolation.

Sam envied his brother a little. A friend that he could keep. But what the hell. Dean deserved it. He had given up most of his chances of having real friends when they were kids hanging out with him instead. So even though it sucked to know he wouldn't have his brother all to himself anymore. It was okay.



Dean grinned at his brother in the rear view mirror. It was interesting having someone that knew, that was for sure. And it was something to keep from Dad, definitely. It was the 'big family secret' after all. "Okay, so we'll head back and see how everyonen else is doing."

"Yeah they are probably looking for us anyway." Brad said. "Making sure we aren't cracked in the head or something cause we saved a life. " He grinned then. "Dude, we saved someone's life today." As though it were just then starting to sink in the magnitude of what he and Dean had done.

Dean returned the grin. "We did, didn't we?" He said. It was an amazing thing. And it rarely got old, especially since it was rarely done as openly as earlier in the theater.

"Yeah... word will get around and you won't be able to go out in public without girls swarming you." He said. Brad figured one would be enough to satisfy himself, and he already had a date with her to begin with. Dean however, he figured thrived on female attention.

"Dude, I'm a total stud." Dean said with a laugh. "This hero thing has some side benefits, doesn't it? Now take notes, Sammy, your day will come."

"The word is slut." Sam said from the back seat rolling his eyes. "You do know in most states it's illegal for girls under 18 to have sex… even with boys under 18."

"Ah, but this beautiful state, the age of consent for both sexes is 16, as long as the partner isn't any older than two years more than them." Dean said. "Just don't ask why I felt the need to look that up." It was actually in his civics class, but whatever.

"I don't have to ask why you felt the need to look that up. As I said before, the word is slut." Sam teased. He figured it was natural enough for his brother. Hell it wasn't like he didn't think about it… a lot… most of the time in fact. But he just didn't think he had a snowball's chance in hell of actually succeeding at this point. So it was great fun to tease his brother.

Dean laughed. "Hey, you know what else I learned in the theater? You have to listen to me." Dean said with a grin. "Seriously, Brad commanded his brother to go to his room, and he had to listen once he threw that rank thing in there."

"You start throwing rank at me and I'll seriously just stand there." Sam said. "I can out stubborn Dad… you don't stand a chance." Although that wasn't entirely true. He was more likely to listen to his brother than his father any day.

"No respect." Dean said with a laugh.



"It took many years to get that concept into Jimmy." Brad said. "You're starting way too late with Sam, he's far past the trainable stage."

"I was past the trainable stage at 6." Sam pointed out. "Trust me … he's tried." And succeeded where their father had failed. He loved them both dearly. But it just seemed the more he tried to connect with his father, the harder it was to be in the same room with him.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, you were." He said. "But at least he's not really a girl." He said to Brad. "Else I'd be totally lost."

"I'm not even close to being a girl." He said frowning into the rear view mirror. "You look more like a girl than I do, even if I still had long hair. Seriously … you have a girly face. I just had girly hair."

"I do not have a girly face." Dean said with a scowl. It was an old argument, and Brad could tell that as he chuckled while Dean found a parking spot at the school.

"Yes you do. Come on… look in the mirror sometime when you aren't trying on Dad's expressions. You'll see it. Trust me… you look like a girl."

"I do not look like a girl." Dean said. "And do not make me pull this car over and give you a beat down." Mimicing one of their father's expressions without even trying, the one where he was torn between laughing and scowling.

Sam's eyes danced as he continued to tease his brother. "Hey I have pictures of you still that are full on girly faced. All pouty faced and big eye lashes. "

Dean shook his head. "Dude, so not the brotherly way." He said as he pulled into the school parking lot. "Come on, let's go tell Dad what we found." Full on intending on leaving Brad out of that part, that was an explosion waiting to happen.

"I gotta go check on Jimmy anyway. See if he's forgiven me yet."

"He has " Sam said, knowing a thing or two about being an upset little brother. "Not that he's gonna tell you that." Sam got out of the car. It was less dangerous but that was the only difference. What it came down to, was that Brad and Jimmy really only had each other. Forgiveness wasn't a question then.

Brad smiled, he knew that himself. But it was good to see others that knew it too. Circumstances were way different, but the Halloran brothers weren't all that different from the Winchester brothers, he figured. "See you guys later."

"See you." Dean said. "Now let's go face the dragon."

"Dragon huh… yeah I guess that fits." Sam said with a faint smile. There was no telling how their father would react to it all. Usually they could predict John Winchester down to the facial expression. Right now, though, he was a mystery even to them. "Don't think this place is good for him." Sam said bluntly. "I don't think he likes remembering being normal."



"Sometimes I don't like remembering being normal. And I only had four years of normal." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe he really misses the military or something too. I can't tell with Dad. Not now." Was his father going through a mid life crisis? Did his mid life crisis and the onset of Sam's puberty really have to coincide?

"I'd like a chance to find out what it's like." Sam said. "Guess this is kinda close. I mean… boarding schools are normal right?" He really wasn't thinking about that though. "I don't know… he's kinda freaking me out. Maybe it's just wanderlust."

Dean's brow furrowed as they made their way to the instructor barracks. "Yeah, I guess boarding schools are normal. Better than the reform school last year's principal swore I'd graduate from. Then again, it's only October, nearly November, there's still lots of time."

"Na… you won't get into a reform school. We'd bust you out. You know Dad wouldn't let you have that long a vacation from hunting." Sam teased.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, you're right." Dean said as he knocked on the door. "Dad?" He said. "Dude, don't forget to get your knives back, you know if you forget to grab them, Dad will have your ass."

"Yeah I know." Sam said

"Yeah, come on in." John said from inside, as he put away the bottle he had been drinking from. His stomach was killing him. He wasn't used to hitting the booze as hard as he had been lately and it was taking a toll on his system. He knew it. He knew he should stop, go back to drinking coffee and beer. Didn't mean he was going to. He wasn't sure he entirely cared.

His father looked like hell, Dean thought as they came in. And he wondered if he could beat up the adult who brought his dad to the liquor store to restock. "Went to the library." Dean said as he took out their research, and all the photos Sam had photocopied from the year book. He handed his father the candid shot. "That's her. It's from the yearbook at the girls' school."

"We couldn't find her name listed anywhere in the book, and just this one photo." Sam said.

"Back then, children of the staff, not the teachers of course, but the cooks and janitors and such, they got to take advantage of the education, but not really be part of the school. It was a social class thing." He said. "It's possible she was one of those kids, just got caught on film accidentally. You're sure about this being the face you saw?"

"Why would they do that? That makes no sense." Sam said with a frown.

"Different times, son. This is a military school, here if you have the tuition and a couple of good recommendations you could get in. The girls' school… well that was a bit more high society. People with enough money to give their children away didn't want their daughters hob knobbing with those that didn't. "



"That's definitely the face I saw." Dean said. "And if she disappeared close enough to either school grounds, is it possible that some money was paid and no fuss was ever stirred up? I mean, you said it. Different times."

"It's likely over at the girls school… Not sure about here. But you never know with people. " John said, for the first time admitting that what Sam had proposed might be true. But that was because Dean had seen the girl. "Of course for all we know this image here… she could have been a ghost then. Sometimes they show up on film like the living. Could explain why she isn't named… but then why isn't she killing over there too?"

Dean took the picture. "No, she's definitely there. She has a shadow, and the girl next to her is playing with her hair. Do you recognize anyone else in the picture? This is from your years at this school after all." He said. "Maybe we can go see if any of these people, if they're around here, would know who she is, and start from there. She's targeting the boys school, so, I don't know, maybe someone here did something to her."

"It's possible." John said as he looked over the picture. He did recognize someone. A painful blast from the past. "That is Claire Montgomery. No idea what her name is now. She ahm… was one of your mother's friends at the school." He said and handed the photo back to the boys.

Both Dean and Sam looked at John at that. Faces nearly hopeful. Someone that knew their mother back when when she was their age. Dean had their mother on a pedastal, but for Sam, Mary was nearly a mythical creature, like a unicorn. "Well, we'll track her down then." Dean said.

John nodded. "Thank you." He told them. "Her family was local. She was a day student. Probably why she was willing to associate with the girl in the picture if she is what I think she is. She didn't need to set up her social standing, it was already well sustained."

"All right then." Dean said with a nod. "We'll get on that in the morning." Because it would involve phone calls, or leaving campus, and it was getting too late to get away with all that and be credible.

"You two need to get some rest. Day starts early tomorrow." He said. "Homework done?" John asked, he wanted so much to slide back into the role of good father. To be the man he had once been before the darkness had settled in his heart.

"Tomorrow's Saturday." Dean said. "No homework, and it's sleep in day." He reminded his father. Looking worriedly at him.

"Oh… so it is. " John said.- "Alright then. But you still need your rest. You should go on to bed. Apparently there is work to do tomorrow."

"There's always work." Dean said with a grin. "C'mon Sam." He said as he led his brother back out of the room after Sam gathered his knives. "Well, that went...better than expected. Which is bad."

"Which is very bad…you know… I am really worried about him. This is like the longest November 2nd in history." Sam said with a sigh. "And I don't know what to do about it."



"I don't know that we can do anything about it." Dean said with a sigh. "Other than watch him and hope he doesn't do something stupid to get us all thrown out of here."

"You know a few days ago I would have been hoping for that… getting tossed out of here. Right now I am worried about Dad beating the ghost too it as far as the whole Gym teacher thing goes."

"Like I said, we'll watch him." Dean said as they headed back to their room. "Tomorrow we'll start ringing up the phone lines, hit up the alumni committee. Two teenage kids looking for people that knew their mom." And it wasn't exploiting their mother's memory, Dean had every intention, after business was taken care of, of pumping the woman for everything she could remember about their mom.

"Wow… people that might not be afraid to talk about Mom…" he said with a smile. "We might be able to find out little things about her… you know…what she liked… what she wanted…"

"I know, talk about luck." Dean said. "We could get a good lead in this case, and a good lead on Mom at the same time." Their dad didn't really talk about her. And all of Dean's memories were from a four year old's perspective, hardly helpful to Sam who had no memories at all of her.

"Yeah, might make the hair cut worth it after all." Sam said with a grin. "About the only thing that would make it worth it."

"You getting a hair cut was definitely worth me getting a hair cut." Dean teased. "Considering you threw a bigger fit than I did." He was still recovering from being in an all boys' school to really deal with getting his head shaved at the same time.

"That's because I'm the problem child, remember?" Sam pointed out. "That and I have bigger ears."

"You'll grow into them. I think." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get some sleep so we can get started early tomorrow."

Sam nodded and was soon climbing into his bunk, his mind still going a thousand miles an hour, as he went over all the questions he had about their mother, wondering if may be they would finally be answered.


	4. Chapter 4

They'd gotten up early, way too early on a Saturday for Dean's liking, and trekked back to the girls' school to look up alumni. By the afternoon they'd tracked down Claire Montgomery, now Claire Gibson, who lived an hour away. So by afternoon, they were knocking at her door, clutching the few pictures of their mother they had, along with a yearbook Dean had swiped that morning from the library.

Claire Gibson opened the door and looked at the two boys standing there. There was no doubt in her mind whose sons they were. She smiled at them and her features softened as she looked at Dean. "You have your mother's eyes." She said. "I would have known you were her son even if I weren't expecting you two. " She told them, as she opened the door for them, and laughed softly. "Although I can see the glint of your father in there too. Is he still as ornery as ever?" John Winchester had always been quick to smile, laughing easily.

"That's one way to put it." Dean said with a laugh as she showed them to a living room. "You were expecting us? Did Dad call you?" Weird that they were expected, but if she offered them food, Dean wasn't going to turn it down. Though he did like hearing that he had his mother's eyes.

"Yes he did." Claire said. "I was so sorry to hear about your mother's passing. " She told them as she led them inside. "Not surprised that your father still chokes up when he talks about it, all these years later. "

Dean nodded at that. Choked up didn't quite describe it. More like tended to shut down, at least in Dean's view. Around her birthday, their wedding anniversary, the date of her death, Dean became solely responsible for making sure John and Sam did normal things. Like eat. Sleep. Bathe. Had been that way pretty much since she died.

"We're at the military school; guess it's a family tradition or something." He said with a shrug. "I did get a hold of the yearbook from Mom's years there. Can we ask you questions about it?"

"Of course, anything you would like to know. I think I have a few photo albums from back in our school days as well if you like. Would you boys like something to drink? I have lemonade in the refrigerator."

"Yes, thank you." Dean said. He and Sam were in awe of this woman, a connection to their mother before she was their mother. "So the candid shots in here aren't labeled at all." Since they did have a job to do, why not kill two birds with one stone?

"Oh I can help you out with that." She said as she led the way into the kitchen and indicated that the boys take a seat at the table there. She poured three glasses of lemonade and set them on the table before joining them. "Tell me a little about yourselves." She asked.

Now that was always a question. Usually they were living one con or another. Even now, Dean figured. "Um...I'll be eighteen in a couple of months. Sam here, he's thirteen." At which Sam looked at him. "And almost a half. Thirteen and almost a half." He said with a chuckle. "I don't know, I guess we're kinda normal?" Under extraordinary circumstances, they managed to convince most other people of that anyway.

"I don't think I have ever met a normal teenager " She said with a smile, but let it pass. She looked over at Sam who was strangely quiet. She could understand, she supposed. So sad that he had no memory of their mother. "So what would you like to know?"

"Just about anything really." Dean said as he took out the year book. "I don't know who this is?" He said, pointing to a picture with the ghost in it. "She's kinda cute."

"My word, I haven't thought of her in years. That is Sarah Mitchell. Her aunt was the school librarian. She ran away in the middle of our junior year. Poor dear. She wasn't very happy at the school. Your mother was always kind to her though. Mary had a way with people even when we were girls."

"I remember her that way." Dean said. "Dad mentioned the girls' school was a little more....separated by class....than the military school. So she ran off? That's sad."

"We all liked to think she ran off with her mystery boyfriend." Claire said. "We were such romantics and very naïve back then, Sarah used to sneak out at night to go out with a boy. She said she couldn't tell us who he was. We all figured it had to be one of the boys from the military school, because, well, the local boys weren't all that worried about status. It was just as bad in your school back then as ours. All over really. The wealthy didn't fraternize with those that weren't. Most of the time we figured if you  
could afford to get in, you were acceptable… b us it could get pretty nasty if it were discovered to be otherwise. Poor Sarah- she didn't have a chance. It was known from the beginning."

Dean flipped a page. "Anyone from the boys' school go missing? Maybe they ran off together. Teenage boys are known for doing stupid things, you know." He said with a quick grin.

She laughed then. "Oh I know, having raised a couple of those myself." She said. "And no, we never heard of anyone disappearing from the boys' school. Of course they were always ones to keep things hush hush."

"Wow. That's just messed up." Dean said and flipped the page again to one of their mother on the yearbook committee, pulling Claire into sharing memories about their mother. He had a feeling she'd said all she knew, she might have guesses, but she couldn't be pushed right now.

Claire was more than happy to speak about her old friend. Even Sam was drawn into the conversation as they looked through yearbooks and photo albums. Pictures of young girls at play, serious moments important only to teenagers, pictures of school dances. Some included their father, the two of them inseparable even then. There was a light in their father's eyes as he looked at Mary, even then, that shone though the pictures. She would point out their mutual friends and indicate which ones had gone on to be teachers, which had died in the war.

Dean knew their father had gone onto the Marines. It had been the end of the Vietnam War, but it was still war. He hadn't married their mother until after he'd come back from overseas, and it was a bit after Dean had been born before he ended his bid with the Marines. He'd garnered all that over the years, from asides from their father. John never really sat down and talked about their mother like Claire was doing. And he'd never heard about his mother being his age really. His mother w as nearly immortalized at the age she was when she died, and that was all. Never older, never younger. But at least he had some memories. All Sam had were old pictures.

Sam seemed to be drinking in all that she was saying, staring long and hard at the photos. Especially the ones with both of his parents. He had never seen his father happy. Not truly happy. He would of course have moments of pleasure and pride, no one could live in misery every second, but his eyes were always sad, or angry. The man in the photos was as much a stranger to him as the woman. "Hey, isn't that Sarah?" He said looking at one of the people in the back ground of a military ball photo; she was dancing very closely with someone in uniform, in a way that Sam knew suggested more than a casual request to dance.

Claire looked close at the photo. "It is. I remember that dress, she looked like a princess that night." Claire said with a fond smile and wrinkled her brow as she shook her head. "I can't remember who she danced with that night." The face was partially obscured by another girl's hair.

"Was this the night she disappeared?" Sam asked looking closely at the picture hoping for an idea of who it was. Not that who she was dancing with was necessarily responsible. But it might have been a clue- find out who the last person was to see her alive.

Claire shook her head. "No, it was about two months later. Someone said they saw her sneaking out of the dorm, I forget who, and that was it. Never saw her again." Claire said. "I don't know, maybe we could have been nicer to her, I've always wondered if we ran her off. Teenagers are stupid, and cruel. At least girls are."

"Trust me," Sam said, with the voice of experience, "boys are too." So much for the photo being a clue. She might have just been enjoying a dance with the guy then took off on her own t o wind up dead there at the school later.

"I haven't thought of her in years." Claire said as she flipped through the pages. "Always wondered what happened to her, her aunt retired after that year, I think she blamed herself for Sarah going missing in a way. But your father cut quite the dashing figure, at least when we were teenagers. Such broad shoulders, but he had eyes only for your mother from the moment they met."

"That much is still the same." Sam said. "I've never seen him show any interest in a woman at all." He didn't really give much thought to it really, figured the hunt was too important.

Dean and Sam spent time going through the yearbook with Claire, garnering more stories about their mother, and some more on Sarah. Dean was absolutely positive that Sarah was the ghost that he saw in the theater. So that was one down. Now they just had to find her and take care of her.

"Thank you." Dean said to Claire as she showed them out.

Sam nodded his thanks as well, and then turned to walk silently to the car. It was a very different image of their parents than Sam had grown up with. It was a completely alien image of their father, and their mother was immortalized through Dean's 4 year old memories which were probably more impressionistic than he would want to admit. It was good to know more about her, even if in Sam's mind she really was still an abstract. He would like to say that he missed her. But the truth was he never really knew her. But he was very much affected by her absence, and the changes it made in their father. He wished he had known the man that laughed and played and told bedtime stories.

"That was different." Dean said. He'd loved hearing about his mother. Her absence was felt even more profoundly now, however, and he had to shake off the melancholy. Unlike Sam, who was much too young, he remembered his mother. Her laugh, her smile, and the feel of her hands when she'd tuck him into bed.

"Yeah it was... didn't recognize Dad from her description either." He said quietly. "Not sure we made any progress on the job though." He knew they had to hurry on this one. Their father was getting worse. If they weren't out of there by November, they would be orphans and not because of some ghost.

"Well, we know the girl's name. We didn't know that before." Dean pointed out. "And that her aunt was the librarian over at the girls' school. Also something important. We know she went to school there, so we'll find something else. It's been a good day, for the case too."

Sam nodded. "Let's get back to Dad. Maybe us finding something out will cheer him up a little. Or ... we should I don't know... take him out somewhere and... train ... something... I'm worried about him, Dean."

"You have to be if you're suggesting training." Dean said as they got back into the car. "I don't know, maybe it's because we're creeping up on November. Usually he finds something to hunt and we don't see him. We don't know exactly what normal is for this time of year."

"Dude, have you looked at him lately? I swear he is more likely to off himself than any of the kids at the school, even with that girl's involvement." Sam said and frowned. "I want to break back into the office tonight." He told his brother. "Make sure Dad doesn't have any ... you know... instructions for if something should happen to him there. Maybe check his room during one of our free hours."

"I already went into his room yesterday." Dean confessed. "Took his keys, dumped all the booze out. He can't go anywhere at least. I mean, sure he could hotwire something, but I doubt he will, he works there after all." He had seen his father, which led to him dumping out bottle after bottle and throwing out the already emptied ones.

"Yeah but were you looking for paper work or just his stash of bottles. Dad drinks hard but not this hard... " Sam shook his head. "I'm worried that he might be getting suicidal. And I know he wouldn't leave us without making preparations for ... you know."

"And if we find some papers, what then? At least then we'd know? I don't think I really want to know if he's that bad. Why don't we just put him on watch anyway?" Dean suggested.

"Aren't you supposed to confront people when they are suicidal? That's what you did to me when you read my journal. Never mind I wasn't suicidal." He said, giving his brother a look that only a 14 year old boy could do.

Dean had the decency to look ashamed that he'd read his brother's journal. "Difference is I can take you. Not sure I can take Dad." Dean said flippantly. "But fine, you want to confront him, we'll confront him."  
BR"W e don't have to b e able to take him... and if he's drunk again, we can take him." He said. "We just need to talk to him... it's better to confront him on it than let him think we don't care or something. " Sam had read a lot on it the previous year. Not enough to really know anything, but enough to know that they had to do something.

"Okay, okay, we'll talk to him." Dean said. "You're such a nag." He said with a chuckle as he drove back to the school. "Then we'll jog his memory about the girl."

"Thanks." Sam said. "Besides... we are dealing with a ghost that creates suicidal feelings. Dad's in the teacher's slot and well... let's face it... if anyone has seen or been through enough to make them a prime candidate for suicide... it's Dad." Sam pointed out. "Especially this time of year. And that reminds me... you would tell me if you started to feel that way right? I mean... you did piss her off."

"Dude, I'm not going to off myself." Dean said with a scowl. For one simple reason, if he did, who would take care of Sam? Sam was right, this was a bad time of year. "You'd tell me, though, right?"

"Yeah I would tell you, but Dean... this isn't about what we would normally do. This is all about the ghost. What she wants them to do. She is exacting revenge and the students are surrogates. I doubt any of them wanted to die before she started messing with their heads."

"Okay, good point." Dean allowed. "But I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry so much about me."

"You worry about me. It's only right that I worry about you. And right now we both need to be worried about Dad. " He said. "Dad's in the teacher position that always gets it, and he is acting depressed. Even more depressed and moody than usual."

"Five minutes from the school." Dean reminded Sam as he drove. "We're getting there. Maybe if we just solve this thing and lay the girl to rest things will get back to normal. But don't expect Dad to be Mr. Sunshine regardless."

"Dad is never Mr. Sunshine." Sam said. "But he has never been this bad. He has never been drunk 2 nights out of three unless he was in pain, or it was November 2nd. This is neither. This is extreme for him. Dude, he was talking to me." Sam said. "I mean talking to me not at me... being reassuring. How often has dad done that since I found out the truth?"

"Reassuring? Dad?" Dean asked. And pressed on the gas a little harder. "Okay, you've got a point. Dad is officially going to be babysat."

"Thank you." Sam said, glad that he had finally gotten the point across to his brother. It wasn't that he didn't like his father being reassuring. He liked it a lot, wished his father would be like that more often, but the fact of the matter was, that just wasn't John Winchester. He didn't reassure himself much less anyone else.

They arrived at the school in short order and found their father in the staff lounge, supposedly reading a newspaper, but Dean wasn't so sure a page had actually been turned.

"Okay, we identified the ghost. I'm absolutely sure on it." Dean said as he sat across from his father. No one else was in the lounge. "Sarah Mitchell, went to school with Mom."

"Name doesn't ring any bells, but there were a lot of girls that went to school with your mom." He said. "So what else did you find out about the girl?" John asked. The boys had been taught to be thorough and no one really questioned that teenagers were curious.

"She disappeared from the school two months later." Dean said. "She was of, I guess, a lower class, her aunt was the librarian, retired now. We're hitting her up next. But apparently Sarah used to sneak out to meet some guy, and it was all a big secret."

"Can't say that's a new thing around here. I've seen at least three boys sneaking off to the woods in between the schools since we have been here. I left them alone. They weren't in the target classes." John said. "This doesn't narrow the who down much. But the who might not be important."

"I did some more research, there's no other reports of disappearances or murders that match the profile." Dean said. "So maybe the who isn't important, but the what might be. No pattern, it's not something in the environment. The who is a ghost. The how is how did she become a ghost and the what is what happened to her."

"This leaves us with almost as many questions as we had getting into this job. Guess we have to figure out who else was around here back then. " John said.

"But it has to have something to do with the Phys ed instructor, someone in the drama club and someone in the science club." Sam pointed out. "Maybe we could see the records for those classes. Maybe something happened to them too."

"You were in school with her." Dean reminded his father. "Do you remember anything unusual? What are the chances we can talk to the headmaster? He was the one who brought us here for this after all."

"Nothing sticks out in my head." John said. "I don't have to tell you boys what high school is like. Even in an all boy's school, everyone has their drama, and there are a lot of odd people crammed in together at one time. There was a lot of unusual things going on, all them perfectly normal, and a very long time ago. Did anyone commit suicide? Not that I remember. Or maybe  
more to the point, not that we were told about. I don't remember anyone dying. But we were all looking at the war coming at us head on, back then. We were all stressed and self involved. I was focusing on your mother, praying that she would wait for me until I came back."

"Apparently she did." Dean said, remembering the stories their mother' s old friend h ad told them . "Which was great for us, let me tell you. I like the whole existing part and all."

John actually smiled faintly at that. "Yeah, I like you boys existing too." He said, and didn't notice the look Sam cast at Dean.

"Okay... so it centers on the drama department, the science club, and the coach. Which by the way is you, Dad... so you would tell us if you started feeling ... you know... more depressed than usual, right?"

"I'm fine." John said. "Just a lot of old memories in this place."

Dean looked at Sam. "I bet." He said. "So what should we do now?"

"I don't know... find out what happened to the coach that year, I guess. If they covered up anything that happened with the kids, maybe the first place to look is the coach. "

"If it all ties to this girl, there might not be anything that year. We should start looking at the following year." Dean said thought fully. "And we've done that, really. We've got the research. We need to track down the people in that original group. You're the alumni, Dad. You've got a better shot at it than us." Anything to keep his dad focused on the case and off whatever it was that was dragging him down right now.

"I think it all ties in to her disappearance." Sam said, but watched his father anyway.

John nodded. "I'll see who I can get a hold of." He told his boys. "There's talk of a reunion of sorts at the Military Ball this year." He said. "Gives the perfect excuse."

"So nominate yourself onto the committee to track some of the guys down." Dean suggested. "We'll see what we can dig up on the recent years. They like to encourage seniors to contact recent alumni for college and career advice."

"Sounds like a plan. You boys have done well. Best get about your homework." He said as he got to his feet. He should never have brought the boys here. T here were too many memories, and John was having a hard time focusing on anything but the memories.

Dean scowled at the mention of homework. "Yes sir." He said and watched his father carefully. Hopefully keeping his days filled would do something to keep the spirit at bay. At least around his father. He had to worry about Sam too....the ghost had already hit the drama club, unsuccessfully, but hit it all the same. The thought of the drama club made him groan. "I've got rehearsal too."

Sam laughed out loud. "I think I may have to watch too. You know" he said with a grin "Just in case the ghost shows up again. Someone has to be looking for her."

John left the boys to their home work and rehearsals. He couldn't help but smile a little as he thought of Dean in a school play. The smile didn't last. They rarely did anymore. He picked the lock to the headmaster's office and went inside. He could have asked. After all, he was the one that had asked him to come. But something told John that it was better this particular excursion was kept to himself. He remembered more than he had told his sons about his days at the academy.

He photo copied the files of all the deceased students. Suicides, accidents, there had even been two homicides since John's senior year. 24 dead. He dug a little deeper and found that there had been other accidents boys that had survived, barely, all from the science club, Drama department… and the coach. Three coaches had been fired for alcohol problems, two had killed themselves after leaving their position.

He photocopied the documents and the photographs in the files, he also made photocopies of several pictures from the year book for his senior year. The drama club, and the science club. He enlarged those so that he could see the faces clearly. All of this he took with him to his office and locked the door .

He s et a pistol on t he desk, at easy reach for one hand, a bottle of tequila in easy reach of the other, and spread out his research in front of him. The boys had given him a direction to go in. But he had to keep that secret from them for now. If what he suspected was true, then the less those boys actually knew, the safer it would be for them. Not from the ghost… but not all the darkness and danger in this place came from the ghost. No… not if what John suspected was true.

He set out the photographs of the two clubs in front of him and started going through his photo copies of files. He looked for similarities, names, faces, positions held.

Of course Sam had to come and watch. Of course Sam took great joy in his brother's humiliation. Of course.

Well, payback was a bitch, and Sam would get his. That Dean was guaranteeing. Might not be immediate, but Sam would definitely get his. Next time, he'd fight harder if his father came up with another idea like this. Because this sucked. Dammit, he had an image to uphold.

"It's the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York." He sang. Because he was forced to. Now he was really mad at this ghost. Had to go after the guy he was understudying, right?

Brad was off in the wings watching as it wasn't one of his scenes. He thought that Dean made a better Nathan than the other kid. Probably because he had the look on his face that he would rather be anywhere than where he was, and let's face it, that was Nathan's condition throughout the play and that was what most people remembered of Guys and Dolls.

Dean sat on the edge of the stage when the director stopped them to adjust some of the positioning of the chorus. "You're holding up well." He said to Brad. Brad had had the blinders pulled from his eyes. Dean didn't clearly remember having blinders, ever, but he imagined it would b e hard.

"That's because I don't think about it. " Brad said. "Other than the fact that I have to protect Jimmy. I don't know if it was a distraction or if she shifted her attention to him." He said, looking over to the chorus where his little brother was performing.

"Salt." Dean said. "Put a layer of salt under the carpet in his room. That will keep it away from him when he's in there."

Brad nodded. "Will do." He said. "And besides... it's a ghost... everyone has a grandmother or something that has supposedly seen a ghost somewhere. It's not like a vampire was breathing down my neck or something." He shrugged. "Or maybe I'm cracked in the head or something. They said Graham was gonna be okay, but his parents are coming to get him to take him home in a few days. So if we want to talk to him about what happened, it's gonna have to be ASAP."

"Once we're done here, we'll blow this joint." Dean said as the director made a motion that they were to do the scene again and he grimaced. "But hey, you're in luck. Vampires are extinct. Apparently already wiped out and everything."

"Well that's good." He said as he went back to the wings so that they could do the barber shop number again. Maybe if they got through that they could get back onto the cheesecake scene and he could have something to do other than watch warily, waiting for something to happen. He wasn't doing as well as he told Dean he was. But he was an old hat at faking it. It had hurt like hell to have his bone marrow removed and he had smiled the whole time so his little brother wouldn't know that he was hurting. He had pretended not to be hovering over Jimmy the entire time he was sick. He pretended to be good at this whole military crap to please his father. He was an actor. Pretending was what he was good at.

John Winchester sighed and circled several possibilities. It left him with 5 possibilities as the original offenders. Whatever that offense was. One of them the head master. He leaned back in his chair and took a long drink of the tequila and relaxed. It was a start. Soon it would be over and he could relax and let the boys finish the year here. It would be good for them. He could look at it as training.

"She was so sweet... so pretty...it's your fault she's dead... you should have known something was wrong."

John closed his eyes slowly, rubbing his face with one hand, the other resting on the pistol.

"So many failures." The voice said, and John could feel it reaching into his very soul. The weight of it all pressing on him. He took another long drink of the tequila. Steeling himself as he had every night since arriving there. "Those boys deserve so much better. Dean will be dead before he reaches 30... and Sam... Sam is floundering. Because of you."

He wiped at the tears in his eyes. It hurt. It hurt so much that he couldn't breathe. His boys were all that was left of Mary. He missed her so much. So very much.

He pressed the gun to his temple. Holding it there, feeling the cold steel biting into him.

"You could be with her again... see her again. Your boys would be better off without you. They could grow up to be good men. Families... they won't have that with you. They will never have that with you."

He clenched his teeth, finger resting on the trigger, the barest of pressure needed to end it all. To put things as right as he could for his boys. He pressed the gun tighter against his flesh, feeling the sight at the end of the barrel tear a little at his skin. Pain. Minor. Pain none the less. Physical pain. It brought a momentary shock of reality and John's hand moved quickly, a new target acquired without conscious thought. "I told you before. You are going to have to come up with something I don't tell myself every damned day for your mojo to work on me." He said and pulled the trigger.

Rock salt sprayed the ghost, and she dissipated with an enraged shriek.

"Ungrateful bitch." John muttered, setting the gun down on the desk once more, and took another long drink of tequila.

There was an insistent knock at the door. "John?" Dylan McAllister said. The headmaster. Formerly a classmate of John's. "John? I heard a shot....is everything all right? John?"

John put the tequila away, and locked his drawer before getting up to go unlock the door and let his one time friend into the room "Yeah. I'm fine. Got a few questions though." He said and indicated the other man should have a seat.

"The parents of my unfortunate student is taking him home to rest in a few days." Dylan said as he took a seat and relaxed comfortably in the chair. "And life is continuing on until the next time. Please say you've made some headway on what's causing this?"

"Yeah... I'm afraid so." He said as he sat down himself. "Who was Sarah Mitchell?" He asked lean ing back, comfortably, fixing the other man with a gaze that had been known to break lesser men.

Dylan's brow furrowed. "Sarah Mitchell." He repeated slowly, then shook his head. "Well, I know it wasn't someone we went to school with. Name sounds like it should ring a bell, maybe. You think she has something to do with this? Someone in town setting up a coven or something?"

"Teenaged girl that disappeared after the military ball our senior year. She was the niece of the librarian at the girls' school." John said. "The boys spotted the ghost when the cadet tried to hang himself. They say she matches the pictures they found of the girl."

"Does she?" Dylan said and shook his head. "I don't remember her. That was over twenty years ago." He reminded John. "So this...person...ghost....is behind all the attacks?"

"Don't feel bad, I didn't remember her either, and she was friends with Mary." He said, a haunted look returning to his eyes. "Yeah. I was figuring it was a ghost all along, but now we have something to go on. She is haunting the school, she either died here or is buried here or both. I'll let you know if I figure anything else out. " John frowned. "Look, until I know more about her and what happened, let's keep this between you and me."

"I'm glad you said that. Because I was about to go on the loudspeaker, right after the pledge of allegiance in the morning, and ask the kids that if they see a homicidal ghost prowling the grounds, to please report this to their phys ed teacher." Dylan deadpanned.

John chuckled. "You know what I meant. " He shook his head. "On a different note, how goes the alumni ball you were talking about?"

"Preparations are done. Just have to send out the invitations." Dylan said. "Which means some tracking down of people, but I delegated that to the alumni committee, who'll de legate that to student s soon enough. Second Saturday of December is when we have it planned. Should be a good turn out."

John nodded. "I'll see that the boys do their share of the skip tracing." He said. "Sounds good. It'll be good to see some of the old faces. Too many young ones around here. I am starting to feel my age." He joked. Faking it really. The ghost's words still hung over him, echoing in his mind. "The boys are doing well here, though."

"I had doubts about your older one, but he's doing exceptional. They both are. I stopped into the science club, Sam's working on some molecular model....I'm not sure I understood one word of it."

"That's Sam for you. The kid is brilliant, and knows his way around a book." John said. "But don't let Dean fool you. Just because he is a hands on kind of man, doesn't mean he isn't as smart as his brother. The difference between a good sergeant and a good officer." John knew from experience that a good sergeant was worth his weight in gold or Havana cigars. A sergeant could keep you and your buddies alive.

Dylan chuckled. "Non com to the end." He said to John with a smile. He'd served in Vietnam as a noncommissioned officer as well. But after the war, attended West Point and received his officer bars

"Damned straight." John answered in return, grinning. "That's why you called me to handle this job." He was joking. It was good to joke. He needed to lighten the mood in the room, to chase away the ghost completely. He knew once Dylan left, her words would haunt him once more.

"It's good to have you around." Dylan said. "I wish it didn't take this for you to return a phone call or two. I can try to swing a permanent position here for you."

John shook his head. "No, no... too many ghosts of a different kind here for me." He said. "But there is something I would ask. Dean is a senior this year. He won't need it... but if anything should happen to me before Sam is an adult... I would like to send him here to finish his schooling... give him some place... safe."

"And what do I do with Dean?" Dylan asked. "Even I can see he won't leave his brother behind if something happened to you."

John sighed. "I don't know... is there a position for him here you could offer him? I know he isn't able to be a teacher at a young age, but... something so he can be with Sam. Maybe he can find something in town. I don't know. It's not like I am planning on dying. But I know it can happen all too well."

"John, you're all the boys have left. You make damn sure nothing happens to you." Dylan said. "I'm not sure they'll survive it if something does. You're their reality."

"Trust me." He said. "I have no intention of dying any time soon." He said. It was truth. He wasn't going anywhere. He hated himself as much as anyone who had ever leveled a gun at him. Sometimes in those situations, he found himself pushing, almost hoping they would pull the trigger. It was ironic that his actions tended to make them back off more than anything else. He would love nothing more than to lay down and die. But he didn't think he deserved the peace that would come with it.

"Good." Dylan said. "Remember when we were about to graduate? We didn't think we'd make it past twenty five. What with the war and everything."

"I know. I wasn't sure I was going to make it to 19, but you couldn't have kept me out of the war. I was patriot to the core, and completely clueless." He said with a low rumbling chuckle.

"We all were." Dylan agreed. "It was a whole different world over there." He shook off those thoughts. "But the reunion should be fun, right?"

"I think so. It'll be good to see them all again. Make us all feel our age, I think." John didn't feel old, merely tired. Very tired. So easy to lay down and just let the- no... no... that was the ghost talking. Or so he told himself.

"I'm starting to feel it in the morning, that's enough for me." Dylan said with a chuckle. "I'm telling you, this getting old thing? It's for the birds."

"It's certainly not for the faint of heart." He said. He, too, had trouble in the morning, or when it got cold, or when the weather changed anywhere within a hundred miles of him it seemed. But that wasn't old age, that was hard living. John had been battering his body all his life. The farm, the academy, the war, now the hunt for the demon. One thing John Winchester was not, was faint of heart.

"No, it's not." Dylan said as he rose from his chair. "I'm going to check in on how the rest of my school is running. You find anything, anything I can help with, you let me know."


	5. Chapter 5

Rehearsal had been called for the day and Dean and Brad took off at a run. They had to move fast if the were going to get to talk to Graham before his parents came to take him home, where ever that was.

"So have you done this before? You know, interviewing someone with ghost problems?" Brad asked as he settled into the passenger's seat of the Impala.

"Ghost problems, poltergeist problems, spirit problems, once a werewolf problem." Dean said. "Demon problems, we don't specialize. We just...do it. Besides, the kid just tried to off himself, maybe he'd like some visitors."

"No kidding." Brad said. "I think most people are avoiding the whole situation. Too many of us have been here for the suicides. It' s a lot easier to deal with knowing that it's not some hidden stress. I mean we have had people here investigating everything. Social workers, police officers, military shrinks. The students are tired of dealing with it really."

"Don't blame you. Here's hoping we can just get it dealt with now once and for all." Dean said as he pulled up to the hospital and found out what ward Graham was on. "Hey." He said when they came in. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a jerk." He grumbled but smiled a little. "Thanks by the way...for...you know." He told them as they entered. He didn't really understand what had happened. One minute he had been going over his lines back stage waiting on rehearsal to start, the next he had been so tired of it all, so miserable and unhappy that he couldn't bear the pain of taking one more breath. He had wanted to die. Really die.

"No problem." Dean said as he sat down. "You want to talk about it? I mean, that was pretty scary."

He explained it as best he could. "I don't really want to die." He said, hoping they would believe him. "No one here believes me. Can't blame them, I guess. But... sometimes at the school I would...I don't know... get the blues or something. But I never even thought about it until the other day. I mean... one minute everything was fine, other than not being able to remember my lines, and the next I'm jumping from the rafters with a noose around my neck."

"I believe you." Dean said as he took a photo out of his pocket. "You ever see this girl before?" He asked, showing him the picture from the yearbook.

"Yeah... I think she is one of the girls in the play. I saw her in the theater a few times. Once out in the woods, but I don't think she was one of the girls meeting anyone."

Woods. Dean filed that away for future investigation. Was as good a clue as any, really. "I really gotta try those woods sometime." He said with a grin. "So no thoughts on why you did this? You said you were fine, then not."

"I just... " He sighed. "Okay so I had been cheating on exams and got caught. I talked the instructor out of calling my parents but I ... I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean... I would be okay and it would be out of my mind, I was spending most of my time studying for the make up test but... there would be times that it wouldn't go away. It was like someone was breathing down my neck about it. And I would get... caught up in it, you know... like it was the end of the world and it would just be better if I wasn't there."

So that's how the ghost was doing it. Playing on guilt. His thoughts immediately turned toward his father, but he shook it off for now.

"Well, I hope you know better now." Dean said. "World's a better place with a lot of living people in it. Especially when they let go of some guilt. You cheated. You got caught. It's over."

"Yeah I guess it is." Graham said with a nod. "But really... I didn't...ah... well... you know." He sighed. Winchester had said he believed him. And he just had to let himself believe that.

"And don't worry about the play. Dean's got it covered. He can even remember the lines... most of the time. "

"Are you kidding? That's the one thing I won't miss about school here. The plays every year."

"Oh come on. I bet I can sweet talk a shrink here so you can come back for opening night. Really, it's no sacrifice on my part." Dean said, half joking.

"Listen to this guy." Brad teased. "He loves it. Really. Don't listen to Dean. He's just willing to do what it takes to make you happy no matter how much he loves standing up there on stage looking like a geeky mama's boy next to me, that's all."

"I don't look like a geek next to anybody." Dean said with a laugh. "But fine, guess I'm stuck."

"Yeah but did you note he didn't argue about the whole mama's boy thing?" Brad said and finally got Graham to actually laugh. He had experience in this, getting depressed kids in a hospital bed to laugh. Sometimes it took over the top behavior, sometimes it just took teasing someone else for the kid's benefit, but usually it worked. He smiled, hearing Graham laugh. One mission accomplished anyway.

"Of course you two are going to mock me. He likes this stuff, and you got out of it!" Dean said with a laugh. "Nice, feeling the support here, fellas."

"Look at it this way... it's your senior year... you're new in a military school. If this is the worst embarrassment you have to experience this year... you're doing good." Brad pointed out. "I mean, if you want to appreciate the theater more we could arrange for a more traditional hazing to go on, but I think people figured if the meek and retiring one of your family can kick the class bully's ass without thinking about it maybe they should leave you alone...I mean, we can fix that for you. No problem, anything for a friend, after all."

"Oh thanks." Dean said. "I'm feeling loved already."

"Man, you better do that part justice. I mean, I had that part first; you're just an understudy. I'll have to kick your ass if you mess it up." Graham said.

"You can try." Dean said.

"See... you can't let him down Dean. How can you not respect the wishes of a man in a hospital bed? I mean...it's not like he's an annoying little brother or something." He could tease like that around Dean. They each knew and understood each other on the subject of little brothers. They were the bane of their existence, the most annoying creatures in the world, and no one had better even look at them cross-eyed because they were the center of their older brother's universe. By choice. No matter what the parents or little brothers thought.

"Ooh guilt factor." Dean said with a laugh. "Fine, I won't screw up too badly. Besides the chick playing the girlfriend is hot."

"Yeah she is. I had been planning to ask her to the ball, but not gonna make the ball this year. Gonna have to fight my parents to come back here at all." Graham said.

"Changing schools isn't so bad." Dean assured Graham. "I do it all the time."

"I got into trouble at my last three schools. Big time trouble, it's why I didn't want my parents to find out I had been cheating. This is the only one that I have been able to ... make work. I like it here."

"Yeah, it's not so bad." Dean allowed. "Okay, well, I'm sure you'll be back. It was just an accident."

"That's what I am trying to convince my parents of. They think someone was bullying me. Me.... bullied? Not even. Not since I was a newbie. " Graham frowned. "I'll be okay. Mom will freak but Dad will cave. I think he likes the quiet." He said with a genuine laugh.

Dean chuckled. "I know what that's like, my father lives in solitude, even when we're right there."

"Must be a military thing." Brad said.

"I think so." Graham said. "Besides it makes them think their boys are going to grow up into men... by military standards. So how is yours taking the fact that you are gonna be all girly and get a job on Broadway?"

"Oh... oh that hurt." Brad said grabbing at his gut melodramatically and leaning forward on the bed, once more making Graham laugh. "Nah he thinks it's a phase and blames my mother. Jimmy is going to be a career military man, me... don't know if I will wind up on Broadway or not, but definitely not going to join the Marine Corps."

Dean laughed. There was no military in his future. Just hunting. What he did right now, but without the bothersome homework. "I got months till graduation, plenty of time. Still won't be seeing me on Broadway though."

"Too bad. You've got talent, you know. If you didn't, you would be doing something with sets or lighting." Brad pointed out.

"Don't remind me. I tried to get into props." Dean said with a roll of his eyes as a nurse came in and looked at them pointedly. "We'll try to see you later, Graham." He said. Visiting hours were over.

"Take care, man. Keep in touch when they take you home." Brad said as he got up and started out into the hallway.

"Okay, well we got a little more than we had." Dean said. "We should check out the woods, see what we can find, other than illicit hook ups." He said once they got to the elevator.

"Maybe this was all about an illicit hook up gone wrong." Brad suggested. "Not sure why it would be three specific people that she targets every year... that's the part that confuses me. It makes no sense."

"I don't know. Illicit hook up gone wrong that resulted in gang rape?" Dean offered, disgusted with the idea. If a girl didn't want to have anything to do with you, then go find a girl that did! How hard was that?

"That's possible. Especially if she was lower class. I know my dad still has weird ideas about who is and isn't okay to associate with outside of school. Back in the 60s it was worse. They wouldn't have thought of her as well...worth much. She was there on sufferance. Who was she going to tell? The local law enforcement would have blown it off as boys being boys and a girl off in the woods asking for it."

"We don't know what happened. Drama kid, science club kid and gym teacher. That's all we know. Gym teacher for the years she was at the girls' school died of cancer like ten years ago, so we can't count on him to tell us anything."

"And I suppose you guys are already looking at alumni from Science and Drama club...but why suicide? I mean... she can move things, why not kill them out right? That has to play into it some how, doesn't it? Sorry, I know all I know of ghosts is what I see in movies and John Saul novels but it just makes sense to me."

"She wants them to suffer first." Dean said, thoughtfully. "You heard what Graham said. He was okay, then he was being pounded by thoughts about how he wasn't good enough and all that."

"Hazing gone wrong?" He suggested then. "Or maybe just a group of social bigots took things too far." He frowned. "I guess this means she died somewhere on the school grounds, doesn't it... how though... suicide, homicide, accident... and the disappearance means she wasn't turned over to be buried so she was either never found, or hidden because there were too many questions... "

"Those woods are crawling with kids all the time. So she's gotta be buried there." Dean said. "Not too shallow, would have been uncovered by animals by now and long gone...which won't do us any good. But they would have found some tracewe should head over to the police department, see the missing report, see if anything ever came up in the woods."

"The police? They aren't gonna talk to a couple of students. Seniors or not, they think of us as just kids. " Brad pointed out.

Dean grinned. "Who said we're going to talk to the police?" He said. "I just said we should head over to the police department."

"You mean we're gonna go break in. You do realize that the place never shuts down right... might not be exactly crawling with cops in a town this size, but it's definitely not empty."

"I'm good." Dean said. "I am the bane of every cop. Trust me, we'll be in and out."

"Well, that will look good on my shiny new rap sheet. He said 'we would just be in and out'." Brad said, shaking his head "What the hell, what's it going to do, piss my Dad off? Can't bug him anymore than the musical does. At least getting arrested is a manly thing to do."

"There ya go." Dean said with a laugh. "Earn your man card through felonies. It's the American way after all! Come on, you can wait in the car and I'll see what I can find. Need a wheel man anyway in case things go south."

"I had to fall into a bad crowd eventually." He said. "And you are actually going to let me drive your car?"

"Yeah, around the corner to an alley I'm going to show you." Dean said with a laugh. "Definitely not a joyride. More like just moving parking spaces. Sam's been doing that since he was ten."

"Sounds like you two have an exciting life. I bet you wish it was less exciting sometimes." Brad said. "Driving at an early age, sneaking into police stations, chasing down ghosts."

"Hey, it beats band camp." Dean said with a laugh. "It's...different. Sam has more of a problem with it than I do, but that's all right. He's just going through a difficult stage I think."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but… Sam is always going to be going through a difficult stage." Brad said, not in a mean way. "He…looks like he has a lot to carry around on those scrawny shoulders. Gotta be a lot for a 13 year old. I don't care who you are."

"He'll figure out his way." Dean said. "It's just a weird year. He really wasn't happy coming here and having to cut his hair, let me tell you. I remember when I was thirteen; every day I thought the world was going to end. Not from monsters, or demons, but because I had a pimple. Or I hadn't grown yet. Or anything. It's called hormones, dude."

"When I was 13, that was the year we found out Jimmy was sick." Brad said. "It wasn't a normal 13 for me. Guess I don't identify much. I hope you're right though. That he'll sort it out. Especially with that ghost playing with people's heads like she's doing."

"I was thirteen when Sam started to figure out our dad wasn't like all the other dads. He was nine." Dean said. "Then again, when your nine year old son says he's afraid of the thing in his closet, and you give the kid a .45, that's tipping your hand."

"Yeah I guess it is." Brad said. "Gotta imagine that was harsh. Who knows what normal really is? I don't think 13 comes in normal. Starting to think nothing does, really. That normal is sticking your head in the sand and letting it all pass you by."

"Last normal moment of my life is my mom tucking me in. Next thing I know, the house is on fire, my mom is dead, and I'm carrying Sam outside. I was four." He said as he pulled into an alley. "Okay, that window looks easy to get to." He said, surveying the building.

"Right, okay… so going in that window… coming out the same way… and I am here to be ready to drive off if you come out with company… right?"

"Now you got it." Dean said as he reached into the backseat for his bag, and found a lock pick, a window cutter, a smaller bag and a flashlight. "It's not so hard. Good thing I'm not afraid of heights. Be back in a few." He said as he got out and climbed on top the large garbage unit and started scaling the wall.

Brad moved over into the driver's seat and watched Dean. He was nervous. Scared really. He had never done anything illegal before in his life, and some how being the wheel man for a guy breaking into the police station seemed like a really … really… intense way to start his life of crime.

Dean made it up the wall and jimmied the window open, slipping in. He found an evacuation chart and found the file room, where the cold cases would be kept. Barely managing to evade detection, he broke in there and flipped through the files, guided only by his flashlight, until he found the girl's file. That was one he had to have.

"Come on, come on." Dean said as he found a map that detailed the 'high crime' areas. The woods were a definite party spot, lots of underage drinking there. He took a few incident reports from those years and headed back down the wall, the files clenched in his teeth. "Move over." He said to Brad. "Free and clear, I can drive. This is all they've got though." He said, tossing the files to Brad.

"Let's go get a burger and look over this stuff." He suggested. He wasn't in any hurry to get back the school. Mostly because Dean and his family would continue working on this even then, and he would be in his dorm room, staring at the ceiling and wondering whom it was coming for next. Better to be a part of it.

"B&E always makes me hungry." Dean agreed as he drove to the burger joint. They grabbed a table and went through the files. "Well, missing persons report was filed. But nothing else. Fifteen years later, they had her declared dead."

"Okay so we know when she was seen last…" he said, "and apparently that was at the military ball." Brad stated. "So chances are she at the very least died on base. But why the suicide? Obviously she can move things, so killing directly shouldn't be a problem for her. "

"Because she wants them to suffer." He said and pulled more files out. Police were automatically called for suspicious deaths, even if they were down played later. So he spread out the photos of the various suicides that he'd found. "She wants them to suffer because they somehow made her suffer. Even in life, or they're symbolic for the ones that made her unable to move on."

"Okay so the one definite we have is the gym teacher. But that was ages ago. He's probably dead by now." Brad said. "Not sure how we are going to track down her body, cause she obviously isn't interested in everyone just getting along."

"Gym teacher died ten years ago of cancer. He was the first one I looked for." Dean said. "She's bound to the school, so she died somewhere there. And since the deaths didn't start till the year after, and they've kept happening, I think the kids in the clubs were seniors."

"Makes sense. Okay… so say some chick died at the school and we were bone headed enough to want to hide the body… which means she had to have died in some way that would be hard to explain. Some freakish accident or murder… where would we hide it. I mean yeah, the woods are a logical spot except for two things…one it's hard to dig deep enough out there to bury a body so that it would stay buried without seriously disturbing things so it would be noticeable, and two how many panicking kids do you know that would have the patience to do it in the first place?"

"Good points." Dean said. "Maybe the woods only figure into it because it was a meeting spot for our girl and her guy. Rumor is she had a boyfriend over in the military school." He said as he ate the food. "So where would he bury her? Sports fields? The track? Basement?"

"I guess that depends on what the grounds looked like back then. You would want some place soft enough that you could dig a hole fast enough that none of the teachers would spot you. The night of a big dance they would be all over the place trying to keep the kids from making out. "

Dean's eyes lit up. "Which is where the gym teacher comes in." He said. "He had to help them with something. Makes sense."

"Which means it was some where in the sports department. Under the risers, under the sod, maybe under the track before the paving was done." He said. "It sort of narrows it down. At least we can be fairly sure she isn't in the walls then."

"Which is great, because I don't think we'd get away with checking the walls on a large scale." Dean said. "If we find out what happened to her, that would be even better."

"Yeah but how do we do that? Is there any way to make them talk to you instead of throwing sand bags at you?" He asked.

"We find out who did it to her, and interrogate them." Dean said. "Break out the rubber hoses and everything."

"Great… any idea who we need to interrogate first? Cause I am freakin' clueless." Brad said with a chuckle. "Don't suppose anything like they have in the movies would work, you know séances, Ouija boards… I don't know… that thing they do with the tape recorders…"

Dean looked thoughtful. "You might be on to something." He said. "Séances are out, we're not psychic. Unless you haven't told me something." He teased. "Ouija boards, some EVPgotta be careful with that stuff though. And the EVP, I don't know where we'd start for that. We could start at the football field, toss a ball around while we let the tape recorder do its job."

"That's a start. Who knows what it will pick up? Of course with our luck, she will get pissed and throw it at us." He said as he finished his dinner.

"Hopefully she throws like a girl then." Dean said. "I want to watch Sam on the football field anyway. This way, I can pass it off as work and not big brother spying."

"Yeah, let me know if that works. Somehow I don't think Sam is going to buy it any more than Jimmy would." Brad said.

"You've seen my brother. He's little." Dean said. "He could kick the ass of anyone on that team, but I'm not sure he's football material, so I gotta watch out for him. Tell him he's doing great even if he's not."

"Yeah I know how that goes. " Brad told him. "You aren't gonna know what to do when he grows up, are you?" He said with a chuckle.

"Sure I am. Look out for him anyway." Dean said with a grin as they got back into the car and headed to the football field. "Besides, it's research anyway. And better yet, doesn't the girls' school use the field for cheerleading practice?"

"Now you have my attention." Brad said with a grin. "Just remember, it's not kosher to beat up the football players that tackle Sam. Unless they are on the townies' team."

Dean laughed. "Luckily I'm not Jewish so I don't have to obey kosher." He said. "The football players have more to worry about from Sam if they take a cheap shot."

Brad laughed. "Yeah Jimmy told me about how he dealt with the freshman class bully." He shook his head "Too bad you two weren't here a few years earlier. Life would have been a hell of a lot more interesting."

"Was it really boring a few years ago?" Dean asked with a grin. Interesting usually followed Winchesters. Or they followed interesting. Either way.

"I didn't know what I was seeing a few years ago."

"Sorry I lifted the veil." Dean said as he drove and pulled dup to the football field. "I think everyone would prefer that their veil was still intact. Sometimes I know I would."

"I don't know... I don't like the idea of all this going on around me and me not knowing about it. Don't have plans to take up hunting as a profession, but I sure as hell want to know if something is going on."

"I can understand that." Dean said. "And hunting doesn't pay, so that's why high school guidance counselors never mention it." He said as they got to the bleachers and took a seat. Dean was watching the practice, sure, but he was also looking over the lay of the land, seeing if any of it had been disturbed more than the others.

"Don't suppose there is any way to make a ghost go to its body. Would sure make this a whole lot easier."

"It would." Dean agreed with Brad. "I'll ask Dad, but none that I know off hand. There might be. Of course, this is one violent ghost, so summoning her would be tricky on its own."

"That is one pissed off girl." Brad said. "Someone had to have done something terrible to her. "

Sam was miserable. He hated football, much preferred soccer. Soccer he was good at. Soccer he actually enjoyed. He did okay at football. But he wasn't really trying. He wanted kicked off the team- but it wouldn't happen. His father was using this to punish him, Sam was sure.

"Winchester!" The coach snapped at Sam. "Up on the line!" And started calling out various things he wanted Sam to do, ignoring the boy's decided lack of enthusiasm.

Sam glared at the man, and wished for all the world that he were anywhere but school in that moment, any other place he could yell at his father and be a jerk about it but not here. Not on the job. Never on the job. All he could do was say, "Yes sir" in such a way that it implied anything but enthusiastic respect.

John shook his head. Why was Sam being so difficult about this? He would have loved to sign him up for soccer, but that slot was already filled. Football was where John could keep an eye on him; make sure he wasn't putting him in danger. Where he could try and keep him safe. But Sam was going to be difficult, he could see that. And it frustrated him.

Sam squared his shoulders and prepared to go out and do what needed to be done, telling himself it was just another con. It was okay that he was out here on the football field with the same sort of jocks that loved to trip him in the lunch room in other schools. He was convinced the difference here was that his brother was here, and his father was a teacher.

John watched Sam a bit and called him back. "I have the perfect position for you." He said as a compromise. "Kicker." He could use his soccer knowledge there, and maybe not being on the field so much would wipe that miserable look off his face. "Think if I set you up at the goal you can get it to the forty yard line?" Sam was thirteen after all; he couldn't be expected to get it into the other side of the fifty-yard line.

Sam looked at the field and thought about it seriously. "Yes sir." He said, this time less petulantly. "I think I can."

"Okay." John said with a sigh of relief. Dean hadn't been this difficult at 13, had he? "Take that tub of footballs over there, and keep practicing until you can consistently get it over there. High, not flat." Repetition was the key to any sport.

Sam did as instructed, feeling better about the class. It was something he might be good at for a change. Usually football was one of those things he tried out for to please his father and usually got pounded to a pulp. He didn't see Dean and Brad arrive. Neither did he see the girl standing nearby. Didn't see her smile slowly, almost toothily at his brother and give a small wave.

Dean froze when he saw the girl. Close to his brother. And grinning like a freaking hyena. He started to get up and Brad pulled him back.

"What are you going to do? Charge out onto the field after something no one else but us can see?" Brad hissed. "You'll end up being Graham's roommate." Dean didn't have a choice, he sat back down. Then got back up and walked over to his father who was by the bench.

"She's over there." He whispered urgently. Making it look like he was asking his father for cash.

"Where?" He asked even as he was following his eldest son's eyes. "By Sam?" He frowned tightly. He had never seen her but he had felt her presence time and again. He started to walk forward and the ghost rested both her hands on Sam's shoulders, which seemed to slump under the invisible weight, and the ball he had been about to kick just dropped to the ground. But her full attention wasn't on Sam. It was on Dean.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean said as he rushed over to Sam. That was normal big brother behavior, right? Not that he gave a shit. And not that he made it all the way over to Sam. He was too busy being thrown against the goal posts. Of course his father had to pick an expensive school, one that used really hard and durable metal in their goal posts.

"What the hell?" Sam said, suddenly brought out of his mood by the image of his brother flying back wards. He moved toward Dean, but didn't make it to him, as he too was skidding across the astro turf.

The girl held Dean against the post, staring into his eyes with her own dark eyes. "Make it right." She told him harshly, pulling Dean away from the post only to slam him into it once more, "Make it right." She demanded again "Or he's mine. Not that you are so good at protecting him. You're not are you? Things just keep happening. The one thing you were supposed to do and you can't do it. I might as well walk away with him right now." She breathed into Dean's ear, grey incorporeal hand closing around his throat.

"Tell me how." Dean gasped out. "What do you want? Where are you? Tell me where you are. If I can't do it, take me. Leave Sammy alone." His vision was filling with dancing lights and sparks. His back was killing him. He couldn't breathe. But Sammyhe couldn't see Sammy.

"Find him... Find him and make it right. Make him pay. Make him pay." She said again. "You can't destroy me until you make him pay. I won't let you," she hissed. So much anger in her voice. So much pain.

John couldn't fire a gun not here, not with something that no one could see, except Dean, but he could use cold iron. Passing it right in front of his son, trying to sever the connection between him and the ghost. "Dean!" He said, pulling his son away from the post and into his arms. This was getting out of hand, he was going to have to end this job quickly or they were all going to die.

Dean gasped, finally able to breathe as he collapsed in his father's arms. "Sam!" He said hoarsely, just above a whisper. He was blinking to stay awake, he couldn't stay awake...everything hurt. And the lights were still there.

"I'm here." Sam said, worriedly as he knelt down beside his brother. He looked at his father with wide dark eyes. The ghost was changing tactics. She was getting violent, like a poltergeist, and she knew she was being hunted. Apparently held a grudge against Dean for stopping the suicide in the theater.

"Yeah, I got him, man." Brad said far enough away to give Dean room to breathe.

Dean nodded in relief and passed out, the lights finally blinding him until he couldn't take it anymore.

John looked at Sam. "He's still breathing, we have to get him to the infirmary." He said as he picked his son up. This had been a lot easier when Dean was smaller that was for sure, and started toward the infirmary. He trusted his assistant coach to cancel what was left of practice.

Brad followed closely keeping watch for the ghost, but didn't see her anywhere. He knew enough to know that didn't mean she wasn't there. Never the less he wasn't about to let Sam out of his sight until Dean could take over the job again.

Sam followed silently still not sure what had happened. The ghost had attacked Dean but he didn't know what had brought him rushing over in the first place. It had all happened so fast. He couldn't help feeling some how that it was all his fault. Everything was his fault. He had seen that with such clarity out there on the field. He hadn't been able to quite shake that feeling.

The school had an on call doctor. Retired military doctor, but usually he was more than sufficient for the needs of the school, waited within the infirmary as John hauled Dean into the room. "What happened?" He asked looking at how pale the boy was. "Not another..."

"No." John said sharply as he laid Dean down on the examining table. "Accident, you know how seniors are. Trying to impress a cheerleader. The girls' school was practicing on our field today. He opened Dean's eyelids with his forefinger and thumb. "He's got a concussion." He said worriedly.

The doctor looked Dean over. "Accident, what did he do, fall down in front of the entire football team?" The older man asked. "He is having some respiratory distress, better call an ambulance while I look him over." He said. "You boys wait outside."

"No." Sam said simply, but firmly. His dad could be pissed all he wanted to be Sam wasn't going to leave his brother. Dean wouldn't leave him. So Sam wasn't going anywhere either.

"Come on, Sam." Brad said. "We can wait for the ambulance." He was worried for his friend also, but knew he definitely wouldn't be allowed to stay.

John blanched as he heard the doctor and reached for the phone, calling 911. Gave them what information he had and then stood by his son's bedside. "Is he going to be okay?" John demanded. "Tell me!" This was a big mistake coming here. Even for an old friend.

"I don't know, John. I really don't know." He said. He suspected the boy was going to be pissing blood, at best. The bruises forming at his back were darkening quickly as were the ones at the kid's throat. "Someone beat this boy." He said. "And I know it wasn't you because the hand prints are too goddamned small." He added, not wanting to deal with a defensive father on top of a kid that was struggling for every breath. His throat would be fine. It was the busted ribs that were the biggest fear. "Tell me what the hell is going on, Winchester." He turned to the boys. "And you two get the hell out of my infirmary, it's not a request, boy!"

Sam blanched and let Brad drag him out of the room but only just. He hovered by the door worriedly, staring in through a crack in the door looking for any sign of what was going on with his brother. "This is my fault, isn't it?" He asked Brad. "He was running for me when he got hurt... it's all my fault."

"No it's not." He assured Sam. "She's gunning for Dean. Dean foiled her last assisted suicide attack. You were... Sam, you were bait. This isn't your fault."

John looked at the doctor. "You know, ask the headmaster." He was passing the buck, but he had bigger concerns.

Suddenly the doctor checked Dean's pulse, and moved to start breathing for Dean. His heart was still beating, weakly but beating. His respiration however had stopped. There was no time to ask any more questions. He was relieved to hear the sirens in the distance. The ambulance would be there soon. Hopefully soon enough to save the boy's life.

John's heart dropped into his shoes as he watched the sudden actions of the doctor. Someone now had to breathe for his son. Watching this, if this wasn't hell, he didn't know what was. "Dean, I know you can hear me. You're going to make it, do you hear me? That's beyond an order." He said, gripping Dean's foot, which was as close as he could get right now.

Brad watched the paramedics rush by them into the infirmary. When the door swung open, he saw the doctor. And Dean, with the ambu bag mask over his face, the doctor squeezing the bag rhythmically as he barked out report to the medics and looked at Sam.

Sam looked as heart sick as his father did. He watched in horror, then moved out of the way as they brought Dean out on the gurney, his father following so closely that he might have been one with the damned thing. He swallowed hard and stared, the gurney and medics disappearing down the hall with his brother and out the door. A sudden look of determination came over his face. "I'm going with them." He said as though daring Brad to try and stop him.

"Sam..." Brad said. But what could he really say? If that were Jimmy, he'd be on the rig too. It probably wasn't a big brother thing. It was probably simply a brother thing. That's when he saw Jimmy and another kid coming toward them. Jimmy was limping and being supported by the other kid. "What happened?"

"Took a spill." Jimmy said.

"A spill? Where? What happened?" he started to ask as he took over the supporting role from the other kid. He barely refrained from chastising his brother, telling him he had to be more careful, that he couldn't afford injuries or sickness, but he did refrain, and was rewarded with a grateful look from his own little brother.

Sam gave Brad a worried look and took off at a run trying to catch up with the ambulance before it took off.

Brad didn't see the girl standing just out side the door. Neither did anyone else. Including Sam. Who never made it to the ambulance. Not that Brad knew that. Not that John knew that Sam had intended to join them. The younger Winchester numbly walked out into the woods.

She found the youngest Winchester so easy to sway. What a character defect to have a time like this. She led him into the woods; he didn't even know he was being led into the woods. Deeper and deeper to the darkest parts most had forgotten. Down into a cave that could be barely seen until you were on top of it. Unless you were looking for it. One she knew all too well.

The paramedics worked desperately at Dean. They found themselves glancing at John's hands, and like the doctor, came to the obvious conclusion that the father couldn't have tried to choke the life out of his own son. Which made the ride less awkward as they worked. "Okay, intubate. We don't have a choice."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N at long last the plot bunnies have given up the ghost, and the last segment of this story. Thank you for sticking with it and your patience. There will be a sequel, set during season 3. Please review. Have to keep those plot bunnies fed!

John Winchester paced outside examination room number 2, waiting for the doctor to tell him if his son would live or die. He had refused to go all the way to the waiting room. Initially he had refused to leave the room but it was a compromise between the waiting room and sedated and tossed into his own bed to get him out of the way. He looked at his watch yet again. Had it only been 2 minutes since he had last checked it? How could it only have been 2 minutes? It seemed as though he had been pacing for hours... for seconds... time didn't really seem to matter except when he looked at his watch.

The doctor came out. "Mr. Winchester? Your son is breathing on his own. But I have to ask what happened." He said, not saying this was an obvious case of assault and the police would most likely have to be called. "He has a severe concussion, he hasn't woken up yet. His kidneys are bruised. His ribs....he's got three intact ribs. Some might just be cracked, but others are broken. His trachea is bruised. What happened to your son?"

"I don't know." It wasn't entirely a lie. The ghost had never done anything like that before. He took a deep breath. "I'm the DI over at the military school. It was during football practice... one minute I'm running drills and the next I look over and Dean is collapsed against the goal post." He ran a hand through his hair. "His brother and best friend were running toward him... I got to him and headed for the infirmary with him... the three of us didn't see what happened and I didn't take the time to ask questions." He ran both hands through his hair. "Is my son going to be alright?" He asked.

"He should be fine." The doctor said. "Once he wakes up, we'll know more. You can go sit with him now if you'd like."

John entered his son's room and sat on the stool beside the bed. Dean looked so pale... except for the darkening bruises around his throat. "It's a long way to go to get out of singing in a musical, you know." He said, not sure what to say to his son but he had to say something or go insane. "Sam is okay. He is back at the school. I thought for a minute there we were going to have to squeeze him in the ambulance with us, but I guess your friend Halloran talked him into staying put." He said.

Dean opened his eyes just a little, the whites of his eyes streaked liberally with red from being choked and nodded slowly. "Good." He said raspily. Gave him time to figure it out. Much needed time.

John smiled in spite of himself. His boy was awake. That was a good sign. He pressed the call button while talking to his son. "You just worry about getting better. Let me worry about everything else." The hunt, his brother, everything else.

Dean coughed, and immediately regretted it. "I gotta get out of here." He said. "Gotta figure it out."

"You have to stay put. You almost died today, son. You stay put. I will figure it out." John said firmly. "I mean it. Stay put."

Dean groaned as he tried to sit up. Big mistake. "She said I have to put it right or she'll take Sam next." Dean said as the nurse came in. He immediately shut up as his blood pressure was taken and he was asked simple questions.

John waited, silently but impatiently while the nurse did her job. He needed to get what information he could from Dean then go and make sure that the ghost didn't make good on that promise. Damn it, when did things spiral so far out of control? He tried to steal a look at the notes she was making. He'd call Bobby. Once Dean was ready to be released he would send them home with Bobby. They would be safe there.

Once the nurse left, Dean slumped back against the pillow, clutching the pillow to his chest as he'd been told to so he could brace his ribs. "It has to be put right. Apparently whoever killed her is still alive and well. I think he might be at the school. Science nerd, drama freak, football coach. Dammit I'm missing something." He said, closing his eyes as he thought. The lights were dimmed, but they were still too bright. And it still hurt to breathe. The nurse warned him when he urinated it would most likely be pure blood for a bit. Could the day get any worse?

"Dean, don't worry about this. I will take care of it. Sam is safe right now. I'll call the school and have him brought out here if it will keep you in this bed and out of trouble." John said.

Dean nodded. He would feel better if he could see Sam. With Dad at the hospital with him, that left Sam undefended. "Yes." He said.

"Stay put." He said and stepped out into the hall to place the call to the school.

"We thought Sam was with you." Came the reply at the other end of the line.

"I'll be right there." He took a deep breath before going back into his son's room "I'm gonna go get him. No one is willing to leave the grounds to bring him out here. They are doing a search for the guy the beat you up." He rolled his eyes. "I won't be long. You stay put. You understand me, son?"

Dean nodded and feigned going back to sleep. Once his dad left, he opened them again and eased out of bed as carefully as he could. Luckily for him, the guy down the hall was coding. Everyone was busy. It was easy to cover and it bought him the time he needed.

Brad looked at Coach Winchester. "He said he was going to the ambulance." He said. "Then my brother came into the infirmary, someone shoved him down some stairs..." knowing what he knew now, he could guess who.

"It's alright, son. It's not your fault." He told Brad. He tried not to let the worry take over. He couldn't think clearly if the worry took over. Thank god Dean was safe in the hospital. He couldn't divide his attention right then either. "I'm going to go look for Sam. He's probably just out on campus somewhere... didn't get to the ambulance in time. "He didn't know Halloran knew the truth."You stay put with your brother. "

"Right." Brad said as he went back to where Jimmy was resting in the infirmary. He was just bruised, but once Brad found out that Sam was missing, that he wasn't with his family, he stayed put in the infirmary to wait for John. Who ended up being far more reasonable than Brad honestly expected. He was probably just distracted, which was fine with Brad. "Tell Dean I'll be in to see him tomorrow. He's not getting out of the play." He said with a grin over his shoulder.

"I'll let him know." John said as he headed out of the infirmary. He had been reasonable because this was a kid, and he was a rube. As far as John knew the kid had no reason to expect that there would be any danger between the front door and the ambulance. What sane person would? He stalked down the hall, almost letting himself believe his own lie, half expecting to find a sulking Sam step out from around the next corner, blaming himself or something equally emotional. But it didn't happen. He made it all the way to the  
headmaster's office with no sign of Sam.

He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him with the last bit of his self control. "What the hell have you been keeping from me?" He roared as he advanced on the man.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Steven said calmly. He was hardly cowed. He was a Marine just as much as John was. If not more, because he stayed in. He went for that extra tour in Nam. He did excursions the politicians didn't like to talk about.

"Cut the bullshit Steven. I have one boy in the hospital and one missing. Kids are dying around here. And the ghost tells Dean while she is trying to kill him that he has to make it right... make someone pay. Stop leaving me in the dark. I'll lay you out myself if I find that you know anything about this and my boys are the ones to pay for it."

"Can it, Winchester." Steven snapped. "If I knew what was going on, I'd tell you! You think I like having my students die around me? You think I like losing my teachers through accidents or they just get scared and leave? John, if I knew what this ghost was talking about, I'd tell you. Because I want this over with, I want it ended. That's why I called you!"

"There is something we aren't seeing. Something important somewhere. The girl... you are sure you don't know anything about her; she has to have been buried here. She was here at the ball the night she disappeared. She was buried here on the grounds otherwise she wouldn't be here. Where would they have had the easiest time hiding a body, Steven?"

"They installed the track that next month. Everyone knew it was going to happen, remember? They made a huge deal out of it. They laid down the plates and put the material over it, afraid digging would make the track seize in the winter." Steven said.

"Then you better come up with an excuse for your new coach to be digging up the track "John said. "Cause that's where I'm headed. There isn't any more time for doing this the quiet way."

When Sam became fully aware of himself, the first thing he noticed was that it was dark; the next was that he was cold. He felt around, long fingers finding cold jagged rock. "Oh this can't be good." He said, and winced at the sound of his own voice. This wasn't someone's cracked out basement, not given the acoustics. He was in a cave, and he was far from the entrance because it was pitch black.

How had he gotten there? Why there? Was this the ghost's latest form of suicide? Death by hypothermia? He had to keep moving and keep himself warm. Most of all he had to get out of there and get to Dean. It was that thought that made him move, keeping one hand on the wall as he walked. It didn't occur to him that in this pitch black cave he wouldn't know if he was going deeper into the cave system or out of it. All he thought about was getting to his brother. Not the cold, not the darkness, or how he got there, because those thoughts would drive him mad and he knew it.

* * *

Dean got out of the hospital. He was sucking air like he'd just run a marathon and had a new concept of pain now. But he made it to the payphone and called the dorm, asking to speak to Brad. The quartermaster transferred him to the right extension and then Dean waited as Brad came to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." Dean said.

"Dean? Man it is good to hear your voice. You weren't looking too good when you left here."

"Probably still ain't. Can you come pick me up?"

"From the hospital? You need to be in there."

"I need to find my brother."

"What? You know?"

"The look on Dad's face when he left. Just come get me or I'll walk." Dean said, at least his stubbornness was intact.

"I'm on my way." Brad said. "I'll get Lansing to stay in the infirmary with Jimmy. She pushed him down the stairs, Dean." He said with a sigh.  
"We gotta get this Bitch and fast. Give me a few minutes to sneak out of here."

"Okay." Dean said. "I'm at the gas station right across from the ER." He said. He hoped Brad wouldn't take too long.

Brad made sure Jimmy was resting and that Corporal Lansing, Jimmy's best friend, was with him in the infirmary. He slipped past the provost's office catching not so much the words, as the volume of the conversation within. Coach Winchester might have been gentle with him, but he wasn't being so gentle with the provost. The man was pissed. He managed to find the spare set of keys to Dean's car and soon was on the way to the hospital. He would have to tell Dean not to hide them in so obvious a place next time.

Dean swung himself into the passenger seat with a groan. "You're lucky." Dean said. "I'm too sore to kick your ass. What's wrong with your car?" He said, cranky as the drugs started to wear off. "No word on Sam yet?"

"No gas and my allowance from Dad haven't come in yet. They don't let you take part time jobs either." Brad rolled his eyes. "And you hide your keys in the most obvious place." He sighed. "No word on Sam. I'm sorry I lost him. He was just headed to the ambulance to go with you guys, when Jimmy was pushed down the stairs. I thought he was with your Dad. You get to feeling better and I'll let you kick my ass for this one... not the car though." He said forcing a grin.

"Emergencies. Never know when we'll have to jet out of town." Dean said with a groan as he leaned against the seat. "It's not your fault, if everyone hadn't been fussing over me, Sam wouldn't have slipped through the cracks. He's always trying to slip away."

"It's not yours either," Brad said, knowing all too well where Dean was coming from. Ironically though it was usually him telling his brother who was stuck in a hospital bed that it wasn't his fault that Brad was missing another fill in the blank because Jimmy was sick. Brothers. "We'll find him. Your dad was in the provost's office, tearing him a new one when I slipped out. "

"She said something." Dean said. "I have to make this right, someone has to be punished, and she won't let me 'destroy' her until it's done. The headmaster, provost whatever, he was the one who called us here. He has to know something."

"True... he had to know it was a ghost of some sort and not just a lot of suicides. How would he know that? He isn't a hunter or he would take care of it himself. He had to have seen her or something." Brad said, eyes widening slightly.

"He started as headmaster last year, right?" Dean said as Brad drove. "He knows something. He's not telling us something. Ugh, I wish I weren't drugged. I can barely think clearly enough."

"Let's go find out what it is that he does know. "Brad said."Or what it is about him that we don't know. I can't think of anyone else that it could be. Something has her riled up in ways she never was before. It has to be him. "

"I don't think he'll answer our questions. I mean, you said Dad ripped him a new asshole. If he couldn't get it out of him, then we don't stand a chance." Dean said and thought. "Newspapers. The school archive. We should hit it; see if we can find coverage of the dance."

"Works for me. We'll find him; okay... we'll find him. She wouldn't kill him if she is using him as leverage. "Brad pointed out, hoping that he was right.

"I've been telling myself that." Dean said. "But I don't know what our time schedule is. It could be shorter than we think."

Brad parked the car exactly where he had taken it from. "Okay, we need to check out the Provost's quarters. He isn't going to keep personal information in his office. Hopefully your Dad will keep him occupied long enough for us to sort out how much he knows."

"Dad's with him?" Dean said with a chuckle as he eased out of the car. "We don't have long; we should just trash the place. We get caught, I'll take the fall, I don't mind. But I don't want to waste time I could be looking for Sam with keeping his quarters nice and neat."

"Don't you miss things if you trash it though?" He asked. "I am betting someone like him keeps pictures. He has a lot of trophies in the display case out front in the lobby. I bet he has scrap books, old year books... Glory days you know."

"Makes sense. What I meant was we don't give it the white glove approach. We go through a drawer, go through files, we're not worried about putting everything back just as it was. If this guy's still alive after my dad finishes with him, I don't care."

Brad nodded. "I think if we can take proof to your Dad that he was involved with this chick, maybe we can get more information out of him. And I don't think you are capable of the white glove treatment today. We'll be lucky if I'm not carrying you out of there. "

"I'm fine." Dean said automatically. "Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to a nice long nap once this is done. I'm talking epic nap. With lots of pain killers. I'm just not there yet." He said as they headed to the provost's quarters. Dean picked the lock, it was a simple lock, and pushed the door open.

"Okay... "Brad said once they were inside and began to search. He wasn't trained at this. All he could do was treat it as though he were looking through his father's private things. Where would his father put something that he treasured but wanted no one else to see?

Dean wasn't as choosy. He tore through drawers and files and under couch cushions. "Check under the mattress in the bedroom." Dean said, knowing full well he couldn't manage that right now.

This was exactly where Brad found the scrap book he had been looking for. "Okay here we go." He said starting to look through it as he walked back into the living room. "Look... this is Sgt Adams... the gym teacher before your dad, along with the provost, and one other kid... they are all in a lot of pictures together. Jocks...this one the president of the science club, the provost was in some play... here it is... Romeo and Juliet... poor bastards... and guess who was Juliet..."

"You're shitting me." Dean said as he put the couch right so he could sit on it, winded already. "All right, let's go grab my dad. Show him the scrap book right away so he's distracted and won't yell at me. Then we'll go confront the Provost. I can't believe he dragged us here when he knew all along a huge part of the story!"

"Hope your dad sees it the same way we do." He said marking the place in the book, and continuing to look as they walked, hoping to find something else that would give them a clue as to where to look for the body or Sam.

Their pace was slow. Because of Dean, and that pissed Dean off. But as they were headed back to the academic buildings where the provost's office was, they saw John with a sledge hammer headed toward the track. "Dad!" Dean said and took the scrapbook to hand to his father. Before he got yelled at for sneaking out of the hospital.

"We found this in the provost's rooms. I know I shouldn't have been there." Brad said quickly, well versed in explaining things to military men. You spoke quickly and clearly and hoped they processed it before reacting. "But those three guys are involved in the original death somehow. The girl was Juliet to his Romeo too... so he had to know her."

"How did you get involved in this?" John asked, taking the book, and giving Dean a 'we're going to talk about this later' look.

"She tried to kill my brother twice." Brad stated. "I saw her in theater throwing a sand bag at Jimmy. She made me involved."

John wasn't pleased, but he looked at Dean. "Good work." And he turned to walk back toward Steven's office.

"So wherever he threw her body is where Sam is." Dean said. It was quite a logic leap but he felt it to be true. "She tried to have that kid hang himself in rehearsal, remember? Made herself nice and visible. Brad just happened to be the only one that looked up."

"Sounds to me like she wants this to be over and done." John said aloud. If she had hurt Sam however, he would make sure that not only did it never end but she could never hurt anyone else either.

His father was flaming mad. Dean could tell that from how fast John was walking. Stalking was more like it, and Dean struggled to keep up. Once they were in the office, Dean was sitting down. His body wouldn't take any more argument on that. "Where were you headed?" He asked.

"The track field. It had been nothing but upturned dirt back then, they were just starting to put it in."

Dean nodded. "Makes sense. But Sam can't be ditched below a track." He said. It was getting cold. Sam would be scared. And it was his fault because he somehow drew the spirit's ire and distracted everyone when he got hurt.

"No... But if we put this bitch down she can't hurt him and we have time to find him." John said. "With her still around, who knows what she will do?"

Dean barely made it into the office. He stumbled the last few dozen feet, and collapsed into a chair gratefully, sucking air and holding his ribs. He looked at the provost. "We found your scrap book."

"Damn it, you had no right to go into my personal quarters." He said. "This has gone far enough John. You and your boy here are pushing my patience."

John slammed the scrap book on the desk and opened it to the pages Brad had marked. "Gym teacher. Science club. Football quarterback. Drama club. Oh look, who's playing Juliet? Who's her Romeo? Dammit you've been keeping things from us from the start. Look at Dean! Look what it cost us that we know of! Do you see Sam? I don't! She has my son, she nearly killed my other son and you will start talking."

"Just exorcise the bitch or whatever the hell it is you do and get the hell out of my life. The past doesn't matter. Just get rid of her."

"Gladly." John shot back. "But I need her body. Where is it?"

"What the hell makes you think I know that? Hell if I knew that don't you think I would have told you long ago and gotten you and your tequila habit off my campus?"

"No, I don't. Because if you know, and you do, you would be confessing to a crime. I don't give a shit about that! I'm not a cop, and I'm not going to report you to the police. But if I don't put her down now, she's going to kill my son. Then she's going to kill you. She's building up and without a body I can't stop her."

"We didn't kill her." Steven said. "She did that herself." He sighed settling down into his chair. "We just hid the body... "

"What?" Dean said. "That doesn't make sense. If she offed herself, why would she be so freaking angry and targeting specific groups?" He said. "Let me guess, you were supposed to fulfill the last act of the play and backed out like a bitch?"

"Dean." John admonished his son. "I think you should tell us what happened, Steven. We're not getting the full picture here."

"I didn't back out." He said. "Things were crazy back then. Everyone puts this idealized spin on the world. Heroes going off to war, kids standing up for their beliefs and not going to war. But the fact was it was insane. Everyone was afraid. We knew that when we graduated we were going to war and by this time we knew what it was really like, and what it wasn't about. And our parents made things even harder. Looking back on it, it was nothing compared to what life really had to offer but to us back then it was too much to bear. Sarah and I thought we were in love. We had spent so much time play acting that we were that it just started to feel true I guess. She found out she was pregnant and wanted to get married, but my parents wouldn't hear anything of it. They threatened to disown me, were going to pull me out of the school. I wouldn't be 18 until months after graduation. Back then you didn't go and have a baby and get married later. Abortions were... nightmares. So we agreed that we would meet. Overdose and that would be that. She was scared... wanted me to wait until she was unconscious before I took my dose. Tom and Cal found me before I took the drugs. Tom stayed and did everything he could to keep me from taking the pills, while Cal went to get Coach. She died in my arms."

"And where did you put her?" John asked. He felt a degree of sympathy, but it was all negated by the fact that Steven's mistake years ago had put what was left of John's family in danger. Not to mention all the other deaths.

"The caves, you know the ones... near the river." It had been a popular make out point until the cave in.

John nodded and turned to go. "I can tell you this much, the reason she's still here is she thinks she can guilt you into joining her finally." John said. "Brad, go grab some blankets on our way to the caves, Sam's going to be cold."

**********

"He loves me, you know." Sarah said to Sam as she stood next to what was left of her skeleton. "He'll come. Your brother will make sure he comes."

"If he loved you, he would have buried you in a real grave like a normal person." Sam said his arms closed around him. He was cold, and even though his eyes had adjusted to the darkness he could barely see that he was standing next to her. He had found that out more by touch. He wasn't in the mood to humor a love sick ghost.

"You don't understand." Sarah said. "I've waited for so long. But he never saw me. Your brother, then his friend, they were the first to see me. In over twenty years. No one sees me. No one saw me before, except Steven. Steven always saw me. And when he comes, you'll see. Then I can rest. Because he promised."

"Why do you kill the others? They're just kids. They don't deserve to die, they don't want to die. "

"I don't. I don't know how. The first person I've been able to touch was your brother. I learned how to make things move, but no one ever died because of that." Sarah said. "I don't make people die, why would I do that?"

"Yeah well you've been succeeding. When the kid hung himself on stage you threw sand bags at people on the stage, tried to stop them from saving the kid... "

"No!" Sarah protested. "They saw me. I wanted to make sure they saw me. And then he threatened me and I got angry. Someone says they want to destroy you....." She shook her head. "You're not like everyone else. You know what it's like to be different. Now imagine that you're different, and invisible."

"Invisible doesn't sound so bad." Sam said and leaned against the wall of the cave, sliding down to the ground. "I know it doesn't seem like it from your side, but from where I'm sitting it's not so bad."

"Not so bad? You spend decades screaming and no one hears you." Sarah said, flaring at that. "Not so bad? Do you know how lonely it is? Always waiting. Just waiting. And no one comes."

"My family always comes, but they never hear me. They hear what they want to hear, not what I am saying. But the biggest difference is I didn't ask for this... you did. You threw your life away literally. And now you take other lives... whether you mean to or not you kill people and have ever since you died. You almost killed my brother, you hurt Jimmy, you kidnapped me... tell me where in there I should feel sorry for you?"

"Sometimes they keep me company for a while." Sarah said. "But they always go away too. They can move on. I can't. I've tried! I tried for years, until the only thing left for me was to stay here and wait."

Sam picked up a pebble and toyed with it just to prove to himself that he was still alive, and not merely keeping her company for a while. "It's because you won't let yourself. My dad... he won't let go of my mom....so he can't move on either. Not so much difference in the living and the dead I guess. "

"He would have come with me. He promised. But I stood there waiting, watching him stroke my hair. Before he could take his half....they came in. They stopped him. They watched him for days and convinced him it was a stupid idea. He stopped thinking of me. But now he's thinking of me. And what we could have had. It's not like today. I watch the kids. A guy knocks up a girl, he gives her two hundred bucks and it's taken care of. We weren't even eighteen yet, we didn't have a choice. And then they took his one choice away from him."

"You were pregnant? Wow... look....People have been having kids before they were married for as long as people have been having kids. You didn't have to die... I'd think you would be happy that someone you loved got to live and have a life... instead of being invisible."

"We wouldn't have been invisible. We would have had each other. And we would have moved on." Sarah said. "That's different than screaming in the middle of the gym and no one hearing you."

"Yeah well...whether he joins you or not... bringing me here was a bad plan. My dad will send you to the other side whether you want to go or not."

"I know." Sarah said, smiling brightly. "And he'll bring Steve with him. And hopefully he'll come with me. But either way, I know I can finally move on. And maybe my aunt can know what happened to me after all. I knew when I saw your father unpacking, when I heard you and your brother talking....you'd be the ones to help me."

"Yeah and once you knew we could see you, you should have talked to us. Not put my brother in the hospital. You could have killed him. For all I know he died there." Sam's voice slowly grew in volume as his anger and fear showed. "You could have taken him from me because you're selfish. Nothing but a selfish girl too scared to face up to her mistakes."

"I like you, Sam." Sarah said. "But don't push it. You're supposed to keep me company until this plays out. Now be a good little boy and talk about something else."

"You trap me in the dark next to a skeleton and you want me to talk like normal kids talk?" He asked shaking his head. His mind was on Dean, afraid that he would lose his brother and be alone in the world himself. His father wasn't there even when he was there most of the time. She was making him invisible too and she wanted to talk like friends.

"You're next to me. All of me." Sarah said. "Yes, I want you to talk. Is that so bad? So hard? No one listens to you either Sam. Well, I'll listen."

"About what? That I hate what we do? I hate the smell of gun oil mixed with salt... the smell that clings to everything after salting and burning the remains. That I hate lying and changing schools and that there isn't anything that can ever change it, because to change it would mean I would have to change my Dad and Dean. Or maybe that I'm a geek and no girl ever looks twice... that I'm 13 and the youngest kid in my class, and my dad still insists that I need a baby sitter even though Dean was watching me alone when he was 7... Where do I start....? "

"You won't be thirteen forever." Sarah said. "You'll be able to escape, they can't hold you prisoner your whole life unless you let them."

"And if I don't, then I lose my family forever." Sam said, knowing that quitting would be the same as telling his family goodbye.

"And sometimes that's what you have to do. Good bye is all you can do." Sara said. "It's....hard. But sometimes it's all you can do."

"You know... you went to school with my Mom." Sam said. Changing the subject. "Your aunt showed us pictures. Do you get to go over to the girls' school... you know... to see her. "

"I did. But she never saw me, and it hurt too bad after a while." Sara said. "I remember your mom; she was a very sweet woman. Strong though. And your dad...half the girls had a crush on him. She never talked much about her family though."

"Dad doesn't either. His or hers. "Sam shrugged."Dean is like Dad... the one the girls all have crushes on... do you ever wish you hadn't done it? "

"After he was stopped....all the time. Limbo is hard. I can't move on, I can't go back. I'm just here and no one hears me. Everyone's forgotten and no one cares anymore. They barely cared when I was alive."

"That's not true. Your aunt cared. She cared a lot. I could tell when we went to talk to her. I know it feels that way sometimes. Like they don't care, and they don't listen. Like nothing you say matters, and you're just this weight around their necks... I know how that feels. But it doesn't make it true... just cause it feels that way."

"He's been back a year." Sara said. "I've waited so long."

"So you want him to die too? I thought you loved him." Sam said quietly. "Wouldn't you rather see that they are happy and alive?"

"Don't you get it? I can't leave! I'm stuck here. And I'm alone." Sara said. "And he promised."

"You can let go... you can give up on him and let it all go. Killing him or making him kill himself isn't going to make you any happier."

"It might. You never know." Sara said. "But they're coming. I can feel them."

"Leave my brother alone when he gets here. You almost killed him..."

"But I didn't. Your brother is strong, he'll always survive." Sara said. "Once this is all over you can go."

"Only because the doctors saved him." Sam pointed out. "I mean it...you leave him alone."

Sara turned to him to speak, but was drowned out by male voices echoing through the caves.

"Sam! Sam!" One strong, deep. John. Another more winded, frantic. Dean.

"In here!" Sam yelled. "She's with me... Salt the tunnel...Salt it!" If she touched Dean again, Sam would make sure she never left this cave again. She could stay here for all eternity watching her bones degrade.

Dean started salting a line behind him. "He's okay." Dean said gratefully.

John shoved Steven toward the cave. "Now put a line of that around yourself and stay put." He told his older son.

Dean didn't answer. Of course he wouldn't stay put. But he handed an iron bar to Brad and surrounded him with salt. "She won't be able to get you." Dean said as he followed his father. This was his brother. His responsibility. John had told him that enough.

"Those lines will keep her in place? Then we don't have to do this. Have the boy come out and we go home." Steven said. He had a life now. Had children of his own.

"No." John said. "All it will take is a good rain and the salt washes away." He pointed out. "But we will get Sam. And you've got to face some things of your own, don't you?"

Steven glared at John. "I'm not going in there to die for her. Not after all this time. Let's go get your boy and do whatever it is you have to do to put her to rest."

John glared back. Whatever happened between the ghost and Steven wasn't his business. He just wanted Sam. More importantly, he wanted his boys safe.

Sara stood up and looked at Steven when the group got to their space. "You came." She said as Dean ran past her to Sam.

"You okay? Did she hurt you?"

"I'm fine... she didn't hurt me." He knew that his brother would come, even when he shouldn't be there. Not even their Dad would be able to keep Dean away. "You should still be in the hospital though. You don't look so good. "

"Hello Sara." Steven said, hoping that John would just go about his business and take care of this damned ghost business. The girl he had fallen in love with all those years ago would never go around driving people to their deaths. This wasn't his Sara any more.

"You finally came." Sara said, looking at Steven. "I've waited for so long. I've tried to get your attention every way I could. I even stood in your office and you ignored me."

Dean leaned against the cave wall. "Yeah, I know. The hospital sucked though, so I broke out." He said with a grin, keeping a weather eye on the ghost.

Sam stepped away from the ghost only to find himself tossed backwards to the cave wall.

"Let him go." Steven said. "It's not any of these kids that you want."

"Come closer." She told the man. "You're still running... still afraid to keep your promise."

"Sam!" Dean yelled, going over to his brother, only to find himself thrown against the opposite wall. Which was NOT what his body needed right now, as he crumpled into a moaning heap on the floor of the cave. "I really don't like you...."

John started for Sam, but Dean was already injured, so he went to his oldest son, who was closer. "You want him dead?" John said. "You've got to be kidding me. You've been killing students and faculty to try and goad him over?" He looked at Steven and shook his head.

"I'm not going to die for you Sarah." Steven said. "I would have that night... but I was stopped. I'm sorry that you died. I have regretted that every day of my life but the fact is I have a life. I have a wife and children. But you can't do this anymore. You can't punish innocent children for our stupid mistakes. Leave these boys alone. Let me go... I'm not 17 anymore. The world looks very different through adult eyes. It wouldn't be the same. Not after everything you have done. "

"Dean, get out of here!" Sam said. "Leave my brother alone you bitch!" He yelled at Sarah.

"No." Dean said as he struggled to at least sit up with his father's help. 

John looked at Brad. "Get Dean out of here." He wasn't sure how much more his oldest son could take physically.

Sarah shook her head at Steven. "I can't believe it. Wife? Children? How could you do that to me?" Sarah said as she threw Steven up on the wall. "How could you forget about me?"

Sam dropped to the floor as she focused her attention on Sarah. He skirted over to the body and motioned to his father to toss him the lighter fluid and matches.

"Because I grew up. I went to war, I went to college... I lived my life. It wasn't done to you, Sarah. It had nothing to do with you. The living go on. It's not a matter of forgetting. It's just how things are."

"You promised me!" Sarah screamed at him. "You promised me and I crossed over alone. You weren't there! You have to keep your promise!" She continued yelling and throwing Steven up against the wall over and over as John tossed the lighter, matches and salt to Sam. 

Sam moved quickly, dousing the remains in salt and lighter fluid hoping he would have time to light the flames before she took notice.

"You haven't crossed over. You died. But you haven't crossed over. You are still here and you are hurting people. You are hurting children, Sarah. How can I be with someone that does that? "He asked weakly, wondering if he was going to die at her hands.

The cave lit up as the remains caught fire, burning brightly.

Sarah turned on Sam in fury, but didn't get far as her apparition went up in flames as surely as her remains.

John sighed in relief. "Come on." He said. "We need to get out of here." Maybe take Dean back to the hospital.

Sam didn't need to be told twice, he was running to catch up to Dean as Brad was slowly pulling him out of the cave and into the larger cavern.

Dean put his free arm over Sam's shoulders when his brother caught up to them. "And everyone wonders why I hate freaking school." He muttered. "This shit never happens on summer vacations."

Sam laughed. "No, it's other kinds of monsters. Usually the sort with claws and fangs that have the decency to actually use hands...paws... Something tangible anyway, to knock you around."

"You two live a weird life." Brad said. "Before I met you guys, I was worried if my SAT scores were enough to make my dad happy."

"Oh it's the same difference. We just worry if our Latin is good enough to impress our dad." Dean said with a chuckle.

"Not yet." John said coming up behind, making sure Stephen was leaving as well. "But you're getting there."

"So the job's done." Dean said, looking back at his father. "Does this mean we're leaving?"

"Not until after the play." Brad insisted. "The understudy doesn't have an understudy."

"I think we can stick around here a while. There are worse places." John said, wanting to make sure his son was completely healed before getting back out on the road.


End file.
